

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Ipifoviwtj of (EangWiS. 

-&Hf- , H& f 

^tco^ty ).t^/i/ *==/{&. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ~ 





























■ 
































Jtti le /J,r: /J^Z 

71+ • •*■•/+•£ '<S~*i.f'7.Tl /43 / 


THE 


GREAT COMMISSION: 


OR, THE 


CHRISTIAN CHURCH CONSTITUTED AND CHARGED* TO CONVEY 
THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD. 


BY ; 

J 

THE REV. JOHN HARRIS, H.H., 

» t y y 

President of Chesliunt College , 

AUTHOR OP “MAMMON,” “ THE GREAT TEACHER,” &C. 


WITH 

AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 

BY 

WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, D.D., 

Pastor of the Amity Street Church, New York. 



BOSTON: 

GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN, 

59 WASHINGTON STREET. 

1842. 




\ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, 
By GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 


t- c t 


PREFATORY NOTICE 


BY 

THE ADJUDICATORS. 


To the mind of the Christian philanthropist, no subject can 
possess a deeper interest than the state and prospects of the 
world, in relation to the Gospel of Christ: its state —as presenting, 
in the middle of the nineteenth century of the Christian era, so 
painfully mysterious an extent of ignorance, ungodliness, and 
misery;—its prospects ,—as assured, by the promises of the God 
of truth and mercy, of an approaching period of universal 
knowledge, love, purity, and happiness. Estimating the value 
of means by the value of the end to which they are subservient, 
the subject of Missions to the heathen , for the subversion of false 
religions by the diffusion and Divine power of the true, cannot 
fail to hold a place pre-eminently high, in the minds of all who 
fear God, love the Saviour, and desire the good of their race. 

Influenced by such convictions and feelings, “ a few friends of 
the Missionary Enterprise in Scotland,” connected with the 
Scottish Establishment, but modestly concealing their names, 
formed the purpose, between three and four years ago, of 
attempting the infusion of fresh spirit into the benevolent exer- 



Vlll 


PREFATORY NOTICE 


tions of the Christian church at large, for the speedier evangeli¬ 
zation of the world, by inviting a “friendly competition” of 
talent and piety, in the production of a work less ephemeral 
than “ the many excellent sermons, tracts, and pamphlets, 
which, during the last forty years, have appeared on the subject 
of Missions to the Heathen.” With this view, these unknown 
philanthropists offered a prize of Two Hundred Guineas for 
the best, and another prize of Fifty Guineas for the second 
best. Essay on The Duty, Privilege, and Encourage¬ 
ment of Christians to send the Gospel of Salva¬ 
tion TO THE UNENLIGHTENED NATIONS OF THE EARTH. 
The competition was understood to be confined within the limits 
of the United Kingdom. The extension of it to America was 
subsequently suggested, but the suggestion, by whatever consid¬ 
erations recommended, came too late to admit of its being 
honorably adopted. 

The proposals issued were commended to public notice and 
Christian interest, by the signatures of three eminent ministers 
of the Established Church of Scotland—of whom one has since 
gone hence to receive the reward of a faithful servant—the 
Rev. Dr. Chalmers, the late Rev. Dr. M'Gill, and the Rev. Dr. 
Duff. The Essays (with the usual precautions for the conceal¬ 
ment of the writers’ names) were to be submitted to the exam¬ 
ination of Jive adjudicators, selected, on a principle of honorable 
liberality, from those bodies of Christians with which stood 
associated the principal Missionary Institutions,—the two Estab¬ 
lished Churches of Scotland and England, the Wesleyan Metho¬ 
dists, the Independents, and the Baptists. Forty-two Essays 
were received, differing very widely indeed in character and 
claims; from some of an inferior order, rising through higher 
degrees in the scale of merit, to a considerable number of 
sterling excellence. Between several of these the Adjudicators 
found no little difficulty in coming to a decision; nor did they 
ultimately arrive at perfect unanimity. The Essay which is now 


BY THE ADJUDICATORS. 


IX 


presented to the public, the production of the Rev. Dr. John 
Harris, of Cheshunt College, was, after hesitation and cor¬ 
respondence, placed first by four Adjudicators out of the five; 
and, by the same majority, the second place was assigned to the 
Essay which has found for its claimant the Rev. Richard 
Winter Hamilton, ofLeeds. 

By one of the Adjudicators the first place was given to a 
different Essay from either of these; which also, in the judgment 
of more than one of the rest, competed strongly for the second, 
as a treatise of great excellence. In these circumstances, the 
Committee, desirous to give the cause every possible advantage, 
resolved on offering a distinct premium to its Author,—subse¬ 
quently discovered to be the Rev. John Macfarlane, Min¬ 
ister of the parish of Collessie, Fife; and, under their sanction, 
with the generous concurrence of the two successful competitors, 
and with the lecommendation of such of the Adjudicators as felt 
themselves at liberty to give it, this Essay too will be published. 

The Adjudicators, influenced in their decision by the sentiment, 
arrangement, style, and comprehensiveness of the Essays, and 
by their ffenernl adaptation to the avowed object of the projec¬ 
tors of the Prize, have given that decision in foro conscientia; 
and they now leave it, so far as opportunity for judgment is 
afforded, to the tribunal of public opinion. They consider it 
necessary, at the same time, to add, that having selected the 
Essays which appeared to them the best, they are by no means 
to be understood as, either collectively or individually, testifying 
approval of every view of opinion of their respective Authors. 

An apology is due, especially to the Essayists, for the long, 
and what to them must have been the somewhat vexatious delay 
on the part of the Adjudicators, in delivering their decision. 
Such apology they deem it sufficient thus to offer, on behalf of 
themselves, and of the Committee, without attempting any de¬ 
tail of explanation, how satisfactory soever such detail might be 
rendered. 


X 


PREFATORY NOTICE BY THE ADJUDICATORS. 


It now only remains that they breathe a united and fervent 
prayer for the success of this endeavor to advance the glory of 
God, and the happiness and salvation of men; a prayer in which 
they invite their fellow-Christians of every denomination to join, 
—that the present Essay, as well as such others as may pass 
through the press, may, under the providence of the Divine 
Head of the Church, contribute to the further excitement of his 
people’s zeal in this highest and best of causes; and so may 
accelerate the arrival of that happy period, when his own gra¬ 
cious and faithful assurance, confirmed with his oath, and preg¬ 
nant with so vast an amount of blessing to mankind, shall obtain 
its full realization,—“As surely as I live, all the earth shall be 
filled with my glory.” 







PREFACE. 


If the writer may be allowed to engage the attention of 
his readers for a moment before they enter on the perusal 
of the following pages, his only aim in so doing will be to 
facilitate that perusal. 

Of course, his first object in preparing this Essay has 
been to comply with the requirements of the advertisement, 
which has, indirectly at least, occasioned its existence. 
His compliance with these, however, has not prevented 
him from aiming at a point higher still; rather, it has 
formed the proper and natural ascent to it. That aim, he 
trusts, has imprinted its character, more or less visibly, on 
every portion of his work. He would briefly describe it 
as threefold — an endeavor to show that the church of 
Christ is aggressive and missionary in its very constitution 
and design : its “ field is the worldthat it is to look on the 
whole of this field as one; not regarding the claims of any 
particular portion as inimical to the interests of any other; 



XU 


PREFACE. 


but viewing the Divine command which obliges it to seek 
the salvation of any one individual, or the evangelization 
of any one country, as binding it to attempt the recovery 
of the whole world: but that, in order to the accomplish¬ 
ment of this high design, more is necessary than mere 
activity — that the entire consecration of all its resources 
is, for obvious reasons, made indispensable to success. 

With this view, he has attempted to fill up the following 
outline. In the First Part, consisting of three chapters, 
his object has been to state and explain the Scripture 
Theory of Christian instrumentality; to show, by a general 
examination of the Word of God, that this theory is there 
prescribed and made imperative; and that the same Divine 
authority predicts and promises its triumph in the conver¬ 
sion of the world. Thus, if the first chapter states the 
plan by which all the holy influences of the past should 
have been collected, multiplied, and combined; the second 
exhibits and enforces the obligation of th e present to that 
entire consecration which the plan supposes; and the third 
engages that such consecration shall certainly issue in the 
future and universal erection of the kingdom of Christ. 
Having thus, in the First Part, viewed the Missionary 
Enterprise, generally, in its relations to the Word of God, 
the writer has proceeded, in the Second Part, to exhibit 
the benefits arising from Christian Missions, with the view 
of still farther illustrating and enforcing their claims. 
This he has done in four chapters; the first of which 
contains an historical sketch of the diffusion of Christianity, 
and of the rise and progress of modern Missions, with a 


PREFACE. 


Xlll 


statistical summary of their present state :* the second 
enumerates the leading temporal and spiritual benefits 
accruing to the heathen from Missionary operations; the 
third describes their reflex advantages, temporal and spir¬ 
itual ; and the fourth shows that the History and Effects 
of the Missionary Enterprise illustrate every view of the 

Theory of Christian influence contained in the First 

* 

Part; and supply a powerful inducement to the increase of 
Missionary zeal. The Third Part exhibits the various 
sources of encouragement — historical, and political, 
moral, ecclesiastical, and evangelical — which urge and 
animate Christians to advance in their Missionary career. 
In the Fourth Part, he has endeavored to show that every 
objection to their course becomes, when rightly considered, 
an argument to redouble their efforts. But the Fifth Part 
ascertains the existence of a great defect — of the want of 
that entireness of consecration to their Missionary office 
which is indispensable to complete success; and points out 
the various requisites which such consecration includes, 
and would infallibly supply. While the Sixth Part en¬ 
forces the principal Motives which should induce their 
entire devotedness to the great objects of the Missionary 
Enterprise. 


* Perhaps the reader, unacquainted with the fact, ought to 
be informed that the “Evidence on the Aborigines,” which is 
frequently appealed to in this part of the work, was given before 
a Committee of the House of Commons, by the Secretaries of the 
Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and 
London Missionary Society, and by other competent witnesses. 

2 



XIV 


PREFACE. 


Such, indeed, is the surpassing grandeur of the object 
of Christian Missions, as to render any thing like justice 
to its merits impossible. Yet the writer feels humbled 
that the present contribution should fall so far short, even 
of his own conception, of what such a work might and 
ought to be. He is proportionally delighted, therefore, 
that since it was submitted for competent adjudication, so 
many able works on Missions should have issued from the 
press as to render specification difficult ; and, especially, 
that, besides having for its precursor the very seasonable 
and powerful production of the Rev. Dr. John Campbell, 
it should be accompanied, or speedily followed, by the 
publications of his well known, able, and beloved friend, 
the Rev. R. W. Hamilton, of Leeds; and of the Rev. 
John M‘Farlane. 

Evident as it is that a crisis in the Missionary Enter¬ 
prise approaches — a crisis created partly by its successes 
abroad, and by its reflex operation in calling into exis¬ 
tence other societies at home, which divide with it the 
contributions of the faithful — his earnest prayer to God is, 
that this Essay, in connexion with those of his Christian 
brethren referred to, may be among the means employed 
to convert that crisis into a blessing — the commencement 
of a new era of Missionary prosperity. 

Cheshunt College, 

Fed. 12th, 1842. 


CONTENTS 


/ 


PART I. 

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE VIEWED GENER¬ 
ALLY IN ITS RELATION TO THE WORD OF GOD. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE SCRIPTURE THEORY OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY FOR 
THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD, STATED AND EXPLAINED. 

I. Mutual dependence and influence, the law of the universe. II. Its perversion 
by sin. III. Its restoration by Christ. IV. The plan of its operation in 
the Christian Church for the recovery of the world. 1. How it begins with 
the individual convert—2. Proceeds through him to the formation of a par¬ 
ticular Church—3. Leads to the formation of other Churches, and unites the 
whole in one body—4. The Spirit preceding and pervading it to give it effect. 

V. In this organization, every thing becomes an element of influence, congenial 
with the Cross, and subordinate to it. 

Knowledge—Speech—Relationships—Property—Self-denial—Compassion — Perse¬ 
verance in Christian activity—Prayer—Union . . . 37—83 

CHAPTER II. 

THIS THEORY ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED FROM THE PRECEPTS 
AND EXAMPLES OF THE WORD OF GOD. 

1. From the paternal character of the antediluvian economy—2. The migratory 
character of the Abrahamic—3. The national and stationary character of the 
Mosaic—4. The life and character of Christ—5. The agency of the Holy 
Spirit—6. The commands of Christ, director implied—7. The first Mission- 





XVI 


CONTENTS. 


ary—8. The first Missionary church—9. The tenor of the Epistles—10. Forms 
part of a universal plan, which includes the agency of angels—11. And which 
devolves and accumulates all the moral influences of the church from age to 
age ......... 84—132 

CHAPTER III. 

ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED FROM PROPHECY. 

1. Does prophecy afford any glimpses of the ultimate results of such instrumen¬ 
tality?—2. Will the final triumph of Christianity be in any way indebted to 
such agency?—3. Circumstances which now render this inquiry peculiarly 
important—4. Millenarianism (as popularly understood) unfriendly to Mis¬ 
sionary activity. 

I. Millenarian doctrine at variance with some of the leading principles of Divine 

truth—1. With the fact that Divine commands imply the promise of aid and 
success—2. With the sincerity of the Divine character—3. With the Divine 
benignity—4. With the ordinary and wise reserve of Scripture—5. And is 
derogatory to the dispensation of the Spirit. 

II. Not warranted by prophecy. III. The enlargement of the Church resulting 

from Christian activity. IV. This view, corroborated by every part of the 
Word of God by which its correctness can be fairly tested. V. The whole 
harmonized with the foregoing parts, and applied . . 133—173 


PART II. 

THE BENEFITS OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

I. The state of the Church has varied in proportion as it has been faithful or other¬ 
wise to its Missionary design. II. Progress of Christianity through the suc¬ 
cessive ages of the Christian era—1. Sixteenth century, or reformation within 
the Church—2. Seventeenth century, or period of Missionary preparation and 
promise—3. Eighteenth century, or period of Missionary association—4. Nine¬ 
teenth century, or period of Missionary enterprise. 

III. Events which may be regarded as dividing the brief history of modern Mis¬ 
sions into epochs. IV. Statistical summary . . . 175—191 




CONTENTS. 


XVII 


CHAPTER II. 

ADVANTAGES OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE TO THE HEATHENS. 


SECTION I. 

TEMPORAL BENEFITS. 

What it has done in this respect for the various nations of Christendom—1. Some 
islands owe their discovery to it—2. Wandering tribes localized—3. Taught 
useful arts and trades—4. Languages reduced to a written form—5. Education 
given—6. Laws and government instituted—7. Morality promoted—8. Checked 
depopulation and prevented extinction—9. Mediated between hostile tribes, 
and prevented sanguinary conflicts—10. Retrieved their slandered mental 
character—11. Protected the oppressed, liberated the enslaved—12. Various 
evils blotted out—13. Elevating effect on the character and social rank of 
woman; general views of temporal benefits; benefits unascertained greater 
still.192—218 

SECTION II. 

RELIGIOUS BENEFITS. 

1. Abolished idolatry—2. Imparted Christian instruction—3. Alleviated moral 
miseries— 4. Instrumentally converted and saved many—5. Bibles; ordi¬ 
nances; churches—6. Accessions to the Church above . 218—226 


CHAPTER III. 

THE REFLEX BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


SECTION I. 

TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES. 

These afford a fine illustration of the remunerative influence of benevolence—1. Ren¬ 
dered great service to literature and science—2. Corrected and enlarged our 
views of the character and condition of man—3. Vindicated our own charac¬ 
ter in the eyes of the heathen—4. Preserved European life—5. Benefited our 
commerce—6. And shipping ..... 227—237 




XVI11 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION II. 

RELIGIOUS BENEFITS. 

1. Broke up the prevailing monotony of the religious community—2. Enlivened 
the piety of Christians, and increased their happiness—3. Produced denom¬ 
inational emulation among them—4. Led to the formation of other institu¬ 
tions—5. Taught us that the cause of religion, abroad and at home, is one— 
6. Greatly enlarged our Christian views—7. Promoted sympathetic union of 
Christians—8. Increased pecuniary liberality—9. Awakened and cherished a 
spirit of prayer—10. Produced noble specimens of Christian character—11. 
Shown us the practicability of the Missionary enterprise, and impressed us 
with our individual obligation to espouse it—12. Disarmed infidelity of its 
principal weapon—13. Promoted Biblical study—increased the evidences of 
Christianity—and deepened our confidence in the Divinity of its character 
and the certainty of its triumphs—14. Been the means of converting many of 
our countrymen abroad and at home—15. And, in various ways, eminently 
glorified God ....... 238—264 


CHAPTER IV. 

ARGUMENT DERIVED FROM THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, 
FOR THE INCREASED ACTIVITY OF THE CHURCH. 

I. Our Missionary success fully proportioned to our efforts. II. Advantages 
have flown from them which nothing else could have conferred. III. The 
history of modern Missions illustrates every part of the theory of Christian 
influence. IV. Supplies a powerful motive to the increase of our Missionary 
zeal ......... 265—281 


\ 


PART III. 

ENCOURAGEMENTS OF CHRISTIANS TO PROSE¬ 
CUTE THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

I. Encouragement from the history of Christianity. II. Encouragement from the 
political aspect of the world. III. Encouragement from the moral state of the 
world. IV. Encouragement from the state of the Protestant Churches. 
V. Encouragement from tho word of God. 

Connexion with the preceding parts, and application of the whole . 283—326 



CONTENTS. 


XIX 


PART IV. 

* 

OBJECTIONS TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

I. The Missionary enterprise unnecessary—the heathen safe. II. The Missionary 
enterprise impracticable. III. Civilization should precede Christianity. IV. 
We have “ heathen enough at home.” V. We have not the necessary funds. 
VI. Of no avail, till Christians are united. VII. Of no avail, till the “per¬ 
sonal reign” of Christ. VIII. The time is not yet come—“must not take 
God’s work out of his hands,” &c. &c. 

Reflections ... ..... 327—363 


PART V. 

THE WANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, AS A 
MISSIONARY SOCIETY, EXAMINED. 

Found to consist, generally, in the want of entire devotedness to its office—1. More 
particularly in deep humility—2. In the due appreciation of the spiritual 
nature of its office—3. A clear conception and vivid conviction of the Mis¬ 
sionary constitution of the Christian Church—4. Missionary information 
should be more widely circulated, and more seriously pondered—5. A greater 
depth of personal piety—6. Holy wisdom to mark and improve the movements 
of Providence—7. Greater devotedness to the Missionary object among minis¬ 
ters at home—8. Christian union—9. Greater pecuniary liberality—10. Mis¬ 
sionary laymen—11. Energy and zeal.—12. Prayer. 

The whole applied to the enforcement of entire consecration . 365—420 



XX 


CONTENTS. 


PART VI. 

* 

MOTIVES TO ENFORCE ENTIRE DEVOTEDNESS TO 
THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

1. To retrieve, if possible, the evil effects of past neglect—2. As the only alterna¬ 
tive of partial hostility against Christ, at present—3. The state of the heathen 
requires it—4. The remarkable manner in which Providence is calling for it 
—5. Some have thus devoted themselves—6. It is only a devoted Church that 
is prepared to turn the characteristics of the age, change and transition, to a 
scriptural account—7. We are likely to impart our character to the future— 
8. Nothing done for Christ is lost—9. All things belong to him—10. The 
claim of redemption—11. The relative object of redemption—12. It would 
complete the honor of the Gospel—13. Our regard for the glory of God requires 
it—14. And it would be the completion of human happiness. 

Conclusion. 421—473 


INTRODUCTION. 


It is mentioned by Andrew Fuller, that he had thought of 
preparing a new system of theology, in which the atone¬ 
ment of Christ should be made the central truth, and all 
the other doctrines of religion be interwoven into the 
treatise in their relations to the great fact of man’s redemp¬ 
tion. Blending as his mind did such clearness and such 
force, we might have well expected that any work it should 
have produced upon this plan would have been of great 
value. It is one of the excellences which distinguish the 
present essay on Missions, that its eloquent author has 
commenced the discussion of his theme at this same point; 
viewed our world, as the field of missionary toil, through 
the atmosphere of Gethsemane and Calvary; and labored, 
as the apostles in their day also did, to set before the 
church “ the love of Christ,” not only as the motive of 
effort, but as the model of all our plans and sacrifices. A 
more unreserved surrender by Christians of their faculties, 
their substance and their influence into the hands of Him 
who bought them with his own blood,—a life of closer 
communion with our Lord, and of more entire conformity 
to His image,—is the great deficiency of the church, in 
our times. Were it attained, a thousand errors would 
disappear, without further controversy; the efforts of the 
church would be at once infinitely augmented, even with¬ 
out the addition of one convert to the ranks of her present 
laborers; and her power over the world would become 
alike incalculable and irresistible. 



XXIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


ourselves, too, God raised up missionaries, at a time when 
the Protestants of Europe were comparatively inactive in 
this work. Our Eliot, our Mayhews and our Brainerd, 
labored long and devoutly. The memoirs of the latter, 
especially, served to excite the zeal, and to mould the char¬ 
acter of William Carey and of Henry Martyn, two of the 
most honored names among the modern missionaries of 
Great Britain. And in our own times, the Great Head of 
the church has given to the Christians of this land, among 
those whose work is now ended, and those who yet toil in 
the mission field, some names not likely to be forgotten as 
long as the earthly church has a history and a being. As 
the children of a soil which the Christians of Europe thus 
sought to evangelize; as the descendants of those who la¬ 
bored when the Protestants of the old world were compar¬ 
atively inefficient; as the compatriots of those who have 
left their bones in Asia, in Africa, and in the islands of 
the sea, taking possession there for Christ and his church 
of the countries of the heathen, American Christians have 
an undeniable interest in the examination of every scheme 
and every question that bear directly or indirectly on the 
great duty of evangelizing the world. They are thus re¬ 
paying the debt they owe to the Christians of other nations ; 
asserting anew the principles of their forefathers long 
since gathered to their rest, and guarding also the memory 
of their brethren who have more recently fallen in the mis¬ 
sionary field. In the discussion, too, of some of these 
questions, the Christians of this country have stores of ex¬ 
perience that are peculiarly their own, and that are not 
equally accessible to their fellow-Christians in Europe. 
We need but name the power of the voluntary principle, 
as seen amongst us in the support of religion and its insti¬ 
tutions ; and the exemption of our churches alike from the 
oppressions of the State, as dissenters, and from its patron¬ 
age, as an establishment,—evils felt by our brethren in the 
foreign as well as in the home field. 

1. A question of great moment, that has within the last 
few years perplexed the missionary bodies both of the old 
and new world, is, that of the mode in which funds may 
be secured, adequate to the support of the missions, which 
the providence of God has cast upon them. And these 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXV 


missions need not only to be sustained, but the wants of 
the heathen, and the commands of the gospel join with the 
invitations of Divine Providence to require that they should 
be widely extended. This was a difficulty which the earlier 
friends of modern missions scarce anticipated, .as one that 
could by any possibility occur. Such, at least, was the 
sentiment of Fuller. In a letter of advice to a friend, who 
had commenced a society for the evangelization of Ire¬ 
land, he recurs to his own experience in the work of 
propagating the gospel in India. “ Be more anxious to do 
the work than to get money. If the work be done, and 
modestly and faithfully reported, money will come. We 
have never had occasion to ask for money, but once . . . 
The first contributions at your meeting were much beyond 
o£13 2s. 6d. with which we commenced. Money was one 
of the least of our concerns; we never doubted, that if, by 
the good hand of our God upon us, we could do the work, 
the friends of Christ would support us.”* Yet, within a 
short time, we have seen schools disbanded, the cries of 
missionaries for assistants in their labor disregarded, and 
our Missionary Boards compelled, by the dread of bank¬ 
ruptcy at home, when the loud summons of Providence 
called them to enter upon the widening and whitening 
fields ripe for the harvest, to meet the call with the com¬ 
plaint, that an exhausted treasury left them no means for 
enlarging, scarce even of sustaining their present endea¬ 
vors. Various modes have indeed been attempted, and 
not without some measure of success, to remedy this dis¬ 
tressing state of affairs. Among the most promising are, 
perhaps, the appeals made through Sabbath schools to the 
younger members of the church. The Wesleyans of 
England, and the London Missionary Society have both 
received large and efficient aid from these sources. Under 
the auspices of the latter body have been lately prepared a 
series of missionary works for the use of children. The 
method has the advantage of not only creating in the 
minds of the young habits of liberality likely to grow with 
their growth ; but of also training up many to become 
themselves missionaries, dedicated with “ the dew of their 


* Letter of Fuller to Ivimey, dated Kettering, April 22, 1814. 

3* 



XXVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


youth ” upon them to the service of Christ among the far 
heathen. Amid all the worldliness of which the church 
must yet complain, it is yet a truth, equally gratifying and 
indisputable, that the standard of liberality in the Chris¬ 
tians of the age is rising. Though, yet, far beneath the 
measure of the primitive disciples,—it is certainly much 
in advance of what was seen but a few years since. Even 
the very deficiencies, of which the various evangelical 
bodies of our time complain, in the funds required for their 
missions, grow in part out of the rapid development and in¬ 
crease those missions have experienced. Some have pro¬ 
posed to keep down the expenditures of the church in the 
mission work, until a time of higher devotedness on the 
part of Christians shall have arrived. This course seems 
indefensible, whether we look to human nature, or to 
Scripture. The souls of men are not likely to be stirred 
to support adequately a work, even in its present state, 
unless it gives signs of continued advancement. And con¬ 
tinued advancement in the work of evangelization inevi¬ 
tably brings an increase of expenditure. Success is 
necessary to sympathy and support, and success itself 
involves growing liabilities and widening efforts. Such 
retrenchment is, above all, indefensible, if we look to the 
Book we are commending to the heathen. Legible on the 
last—the outermost fold of Matthew’s gospel where hangs the 
very seal of the minister’s commission, stands the precept: 
“Go ye, into all the world” Would the church obliterate 
or conceal that irksome commandment ? In doing so, she 
must also erase the promise that accompanies it: “ Lo, I 
am with you ahoays, even unto the end of the world” 
She cannot abridge her task, without renouncing her 
helper, and foregoing the promised presence of her Lord. 
Ruinous, indeed, would that economy be, which should 
bar out the Redeemer from his own church, as too exact¬ 
ing and expensive a guest. The church has abundant 
resources, and it needs but a higher grade of piety, and a 
juster sense of duty to reach them. Systematic contribu¬ 
tions on the part of all, of every age and of every condition, 
would give the funds needed, and funds so given would be 
abundantly blessed. Might not a literal return to the 
primitive rule of laying by on each Sabbath day, as God 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXV11 


hath prospered us, largely swell the missionary revenues of 
the church? Frequent and small gains, in their aggregate, 
always exceed large sums obtained at longer intervals. 
The poorest might give without inconvenience, in weekly 
payments, a sum which in its yearly amount,'they would 
never think of contributing. The sacredness of the Sab¬ 
bath, and its softening and elevating associations, might 
tend also to make the richer Christian more liberal than he 
would be, if solicited amid the cares and hardening 
influences of the week. And, again, the principle of 
giving as God has prospered, seems to imply a grateful 
acknowledgment thus to be made of mercies received since 
the past Sabbath, the rearing, week by week, of a new 
Ebenezer, along the pathway of life. It is but too evident, 
that feelings of thankfulness, like all other passive impres¬ 
sions, are easily effaced, and can only with difficulty be 
preserved in their original freshness. A deliverance 
received, an unexpected accession of property, the recovery 
from the verge of the grave of a beloved child,—are all 
blessings likely to be more justly appreciated and more libe¬ 
rally acknowledged, in the devout meditations of the Sabbath 
immediately succeeding the bestowment of the benefit, than 
when we come at the year’s end to review them as they 
are seen faintly and afar through the mists of distance. 
Were the periods of Christian liberality thus made more 
frequent, on the part of the opulent especially, large sums, 
again, that now go to swell the capital of an estate, and as 
such are never to be touched by the hand of almsgiving, 
would be kept, where they belong, in the place of profits , 
gained by the blessing of Providence, and which it would 
be felt are to be liberally dispensed at the command of the 
Father in heaven who gave them. And we doubt not that 
the church is yet to witness the pouring of entire fortunes 
into her treasury, upon the return of that primitive spirit, 
which of old laid the price of houses and lands at the 
apostles’ feet. 

2. A question yet remaining in some obscurity, though 
the course of events has thrown increasing light upon it, 
is, that of the best form of missionary labor. The error 
once so prevalent, that civilization must precede conver¬ 
sion, is now well nigh exploded. Once it seemed so cer- 


XXV111 


INTRODUCTION. 


tain a truth, that the acute mind of Warburton adduced it 
as a reason, why Protestant missions had been compara¬ 
tively inefficient, that they had overlooked the absolute 
necessity of civilization to prepare the way for the gospel.* 
But, in the work of commending the word of God to a 
heathen people, what proportion of the labor should be 
given to schools, what to translations, and the care of the 
press, and what to preaching, seems a more difficult inqui¬ 
ry. Reason, scripture, and experience all seem to require 
that the living preacher should be the chief and foremost in¬ 
strumentality upon which the church should rely; while 
there are circumstances and seasons that may require the 
church to make large efforts and expenditures for ithe 
instruction of the young through schools, and to supply a 
nation of readers with Christian books; as, in yet other 
situations, much attention may be justly given to the in¬ 
struction of a nation, emerging from barbarism, in the use 
of the plough, and the shuttle, and the various arts that go 
to adorn and enrich the Christian home. But whatever 
may be urged in commendation of other modes of present¬ 
ing the gospel, the preaching of the word has an honor, 
that is put upon no other instrumentality; in its having 
been the form of our Lord’s own labors while on the earth, 
and in its selection by him, as the means which he com¬ 
manded the church to employ, and which, in his promises, he 
specifically bound himself to bless. It was in its use that 
Christianity won its earliest and most glorious victories. Ere 
yet a single book of the New Testament had been written, 
it was by the use of preaching, that the apostles had already 
as their enemies alleged, “ filled all Jerusalem with their 
doctrine.” Philosophy had her lectures, given in the 
grove, or the garden, or the porch to her select auditors 
“ fit and few,” and given only for pay. She had never 
dreamed of bringing down the loftiest truths to an indis- 

* Even yet, the error lingers in quarters, where it was scarce to he expected, 

amid all the blaze of recent missionary experience on this subject. Bloomfield, in 
his Recensio Synoptica on Hebrews 5: 12, has said, “The Christian religion may 
be said to form a kind of science; for which very reason (and would that some 
who have a zeal, but not according to knowledge, would bear it in mind,) civilization 
ought ever to precede evangelization The italics are his own. To us, we must 
say, the remark displays as little of knowledge as of zeal. The principle it asserts 
has been disproved in either hemisphere and under every zone, from Greenland to 
Brazil amid the Gafifres and the Karens, the inhabitants of New Zealand and those 
of the Sandwich Islands. 



INTRODUCTION. 


XXIX 


criminate audience, and that without fee or reward. But 
by what the wise of this world deemed eminently “ the 
foolishness of preaching ,” the new religion pverturned 
their power and scattered their dreams. The church of 
the first century was not comparatively a church of writers, 
and hence the remains of primitive antiquity are scanty in 
amount and often breathe a rude simplicity; but, though 
the writings of the new sect were few, the devout and fear¬ 
less preacher was every where, and hence it was that one 
of the Fathers spoke soon of the Christian church as being 
found every where, in the city and the village, in the army, 
the senate and the forum. In the growth of anti-christian 
delusion and imposture, the pulpit lost its legitimate in¬ 
fluence ; and the Reformation early distinguished itself by 
the new impulse which it gave to preaching, not merely 
among the Protestant nations of Europe, but even in the 
bosom of the Romish church. It was preaching, carried 
back yet one step nearer the apostolic model, in its being 
grafted upon a system of itineracy, which, in the shape of 
Methodism, broke up the dreamy slumber of the English 
Established Church, and carried the light of the gospel 
into the most neglected recesses of the island. 

We would not diminish in the least, the just claims of 
the press, that instrument by which such preachers as 
Baxter are yet uttering their message with a voice that 
death cannot still; nor forget the honor due to schools, 
for which that devoted missionary, our own Eliot, was 
accustomed so fervently and frequently to pray. But over 
the written page, the living preacher has ever this pre¬ 
eminent advantage. He varies his message to his varying 
auditory; he reaches the prejudiced who will not, and the 
illiterate who cannot read ; he commends his errand to the 
heathen by the voice and the look, and all those signs of 
human sympathy that no literature can paint, no powers of 
the press transfer into written characters. Yet, beyond 
all this he is himself the living embodiment of the truth 
that he publishes, a speaking model of the peace which he 
promises, the patience that he commands, and the self- 
denial and the charity his religion is to produce. And 
beside this, he is himself, if a man of God, the partaker of 
that Spirit whose blessing alone can render any human 


XXX 


INTRODUCTION. 


efforts successful to the conversion of souls. Taught by 
that Spirit he follows, which the tract cannot do, his mes¬ 
sage with his prayers ; and steeps thus the seed which he 
scatters in the quickening dews of heaven. Over schools, 
the preaching of the gospel has the advantage of its aiming 
directly at the grand end of missions, the salvation of the 
nation, while the school teacher seeks the same end cir¬ 
cuitously, and with much consequent loss of time and 
labor. The preacher addresses the adult generation, in 
whose hands the power and character of the country lie; 
the teacher acts upon the young, whose present influence 
is circumscribed, and whose future influence we cannot 
safely count upon, when removed from the restraints of the 
academy, and flung into the midst of a heathen society which 
outnumbers, corrupts and overwhelms them, just so far as 
their character is merely the result of education, and not 
the result of that renewing grace, which the preacher seeks 
to impart to the parent, the youth, and the child alike. 
Preaching is, as Francis Xavier called it, “an universal 
good" that Xavier whose own influence was at once so 
wide and powerful, and in whose character and history 
there is so much for the devout Protestant to emulate ; 
even while he may listen incredulously to the claims set 
up for him by a brother Jesuit, the eloquent Bourdaloue, that 
he preached the gospel in fifty-two kingdoms, and over 
more than three thousand leagues of territory, and baptized 
with his own hands a million of Pagans.* 

The most successful missions would seem as yet to have 
been insular, or if situated on the main land, where the 
same class of population was found, as is generally to be 
seen in an island, a people in some measure isolated from 
others, and having one, homogeneous character, such as is 
not to be discovered in nations inhabiting wider districts, 
and left more free to roam into other countries. Such an 
isolation is found, for instance, in the Karen, the Green¬ 
lander, although not an insular people. 

That the ministry should as early as possible, and as 
soon as is consistent with purity of doctrine, and the safety 
of the mission churches, be furnished by the nation itself, 


* Bourdaloue, II, 510. 



INTRODUCTION. 


XXXI 


seems a principle in which all are agreed. The work of 
carrying forward the evangelization of a country ^to its last 
stages must fall ultimately on the converts themselves, and 
the native preacher complete what the foreign evangelist 
has begun. 

3. We are thus led to another question: The period at 
which a tribe or country shall be considered as competent 
to meet their own spiritual wants, and cease to be the charge 
of the Missionary Society that first brought to them the 
gospel. With the increase in numbers and in liberality of 
the native churches, there are portions of the mission field 
that seem approaching to that state, when the pecuniary 
burdens of the mission might well be assumed by them¬ 
selves. But could they yet dispense with the superior 
knowledge, experience and prudence of the foreign Chris¬ 
tians, to whose zeal they owe the first proclamation of the 
gospel amongst them? Yet, on the other hand, it seems 
clear, that the very spirit of the gospel forbids their being 
kept in dependence upon foreign guidance and support 
longer than is absolutely inevitable. There are faculties 
in the man that can only be developed, by his passing from 
the state of pupilage, and being left to buffet the difficulties 
of life with his own solitary energy. A nation cannot, if 
educated and enterprising, long remain happy, or make the 
due development of their resources, while they remain the 
colonies of a distant empire, legislating always in ignorance 
of their wants, and often in selfish disregard of their inter¬ 
ests. It was necessary to our own progress as a people, 
that the bonds which attached us to a distant island, should 
be severed, ere our broad territory could be cultivated, or 
our physical and moral resources be properly ascertained, 
and wisely directed. Is not the principle that applies to 
the individual and the nation, a principle striking deep its 
roots into the nature of man, and applicable therefore, in 
its due measure, to the church also ? The churches at home 
may not yet have the knowledge of facts requisite to define 
the period when missionary supervision should cease, and 
a nation pass from the ranks of those receiving, to the 
number of those giving missionary instruction. That such 
relinquishment of care and control on the part of the Mis¬ 
sionary Society should be delayed until the land is entirely 


XXXI1 


INTRODUCTION. 


evangelized would seem unreasonable. Perhaps, for our God 
is one wondrous in working, controversies and schisms 
may be in such circumstances permitted, and by his skill 
be overruled to effect, as revolutions have done in the 
political world, those changes in the moral world, which 
from our reluctance to accomplish them peaceably, He 
brings to pass by a stern and salutary violence. Thus it 
was that persecutions scattered widely the burning brands 
of the apostolic church, from that church at Jerusalem 
where they were blazing as on a quiet hearth, and wasting 
alike their warmth and their lustre, over the face of distant 
lands, where otherwise they might never have kindled the 
light of their testimony. And thus, too, even the sharp con¬ 
tentions that parted Paul and Barnabas were but as a feeble 
blast, falling upon a recent conflagration, and driving it 
rapidly to distant parts it might else never have reached. 

4. A question which we do not remember to have seen 
discussed is, that of the circumstances which may be con¬ 
sidered as rendering a field inaccessible, or which require 
those who have attempted its culture to abandon it as 
hopeless. Does the Providence of God yet speak distinctly 
at times, as of old His Spirit once spake to apostles, for¬ 
bidding them to go into Asia ? If so, what are the indica¬ 
tions which must bear so sad an interpretation, and require 
the church to leave the adversary for a time in the unmo¬ 
lested possession of his prey, while they place the land so 
relinquished for a time beyond the range of the church’s 
sympathies and prayers. In the East and in the West are 
seen fields of mission effort once attempted, but now 
lying fallow. The Mahometan nations are at this time the 
subject of little direct missionary labor. China, in its vast 
interior territory, has been regarded by the’Protestant 
churches as closed against their missionaries. Romanism 
has her missionaries there, as Wiseman boasts of them, 
each one “working with the axe suspended over his 
head.”* They secured their admission, it is to be feared, 
by arts little consistent with Christian integrity. But 
from the strict and sanguinary vigilance that guards Japan 
against the missionary of the cross, even that proselyting 


* Wiseman. Lect. on Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church. 



INTRODUCTION. XXxiii 

communion has shrunk back appalled. Pursuing the same 
train of thought, it may be asked, what is the amount of 
peril to health or life, that constitutes a barrier which the 
church is not required to scale ? Persecuted in one city, 
Christ required them to flee to another; and when it is 
viewed in this light, the passion for martyrdom boasted of 
in the Romish church, is seen, in the character of the church 
of the fifth and sixth centuries, as compared with the church 
of the first century, to be the mark of growing superstition 
and declining piety. But when the Saviour enjoined 
flight from one town to some other less inhospitable, did 
the permission to quit a city imply the right to quit the 
entire country 1 Again, it may be asked, what is the 
delay of success and the term of fruitless effort, that entitles 
a missionary colony to return to their native soil, and to 
pronounce a field reprobate, and given over to burning ? 
Dubois, after long acquaintance with India, and personal 
toil as a missionary, which gained for him, according to a 
despatch of the British Governor in Council, “ a degree of 
respect among both Europeans and natives rarely equal¬ 
led,’’ yet saw so little true piety in the churches, upon 
which his church had bestowed the toils of two centuries, 
and boasted, meanwhile, most loudly of her success, that 
he supposed the people reprobate of God. # What are the 
considerations which authorize a Protestant Christian, 
studying his duty from the Scriptures, to rest in a similar 
conclusion ? 

5. The union of the several evangelical denominations 
to carry forward more successfully the mission work, has 
been early and often proposed. The gifted Isaac Taylor 
had a scheme for the adoption, by common consent of 
British Christians, of Episcopacy as the basis of such united 
action. Harris himself, in the present work, seems to con¬ 
sider the establishment of the London Missionary Society 
as forming a new era in the history of missions, because 
of its inviting the co-operation of the various evangelical 
sects. The work of Macfarlane, one of the competitors 


* It seems scarce consistent with candor in Wiseman, to slur over this signifi¬ 
cant fact, without further allusion to it than by saying, that the Abbe Dubois 
11 had a particular theory on this subject which he endeavored to maintain 
Lect. on Doct. and Practices of Catholic Religion. 

4 



XXXIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


for the prize adjudged to our author, is understood to con¬ 
tain a scheme for such coalescence of the several Christian 
churches in missions. Nor have these churches only dis¬ 
cussed it. A Romish bishop, of our own country, has sug¬ 
gested it to at least one body of Protestant Christians, as 
being indispensable to success in foreign missions.* To us, 
we must confess, the necessity of a formal union seems never 
yet to have been made out. The present state of the church 
seems clearly to render it impracticable ; and even were it 
feasible, there are considerations which lead us to doubt 
whether it were desirable. The nominal unity of the 
Romish church, to many a mind so strong an argument 
for her claims to supremacy, is notoriously no safeguard 
against controversies the most bitter, and rivalries the most 
relentless, between the several orders that shelter them¬ 
selves beneath the seamless mantle of their one common 
mother. There are existing evils in the church which no 
union, merely formal, could heal. There are others which 
the existence of such union would surely aggravate into 
tenfold virulence. The peaceable separation of Christian 
sects, holding the same Head, and exchanging over the 
lines of party enclosure the greetings of Christian brother¬ 
hood, is not as formidable an evil as it is often represented. 
And every scheme we remember to have seen for effecting 
an union, in the present state of the several churches, has 
proceeded on the principle of expediency. We do not see 
how Protestants, recognizing the paramount authority of 
the Scriptures, and making the polity of their churches 
like the doctrines of their several confessions, to rest on 
the single basis of the revealed word of God, could in con¬ 
sistency with their own principles, come together into a 
church avowedly of human organization, constituted by 
compromises mutually exchanged, and resting on a new 
sort of eclecticism for its very foundations. It would be 
the eclecticism of human wisdom, prescribing to the several 
sects the duty of quietly surrendering, or of holding in 
abeyance truths they profess conscientiously to derive 
from the divine records. If for such union I may sur¬ 
render one truth, I may, for the purpose of extending the 
union yet more widely, sacrifice still additional doctrines, 


* Bishop Kenrick. 



INTRODUCTION. 


XXXV 


until from a basis of divine origin in the Bible, I had 
shifted my faith and my hope to a basis merely and purely 
the device of men. Nor is an union merely nominal of any 
real value. The London Missionary Society is, we be¬ 
lieve, composed of Congregational churches, and Calvin- 
istic in doctrine. The clergymen of the Establishment 
preach at its anniversaries, with others. But its missiona¬ 
ries are Congregationalists; Congregationalism it plants 
in heathen countries, and it never has hoped to unite 
abroad, as it never has united at home, the varying views 
of the Churchman and the Dissenter, the follower of Wes¬ 
ley and the disciple of Calvin, the men who make infants 
church members, and the men who sturdily deny their right 
to such membership. We cannot conceive any gain of 
effective union, any real diminution of controversy, by 
such flinging of the walls of a professed union around 
those who have not been brought into the unity of one 
creed, and cannot labor consistently and conscientiously 
within the enclosures of one church. He who knew the 
worth of union, as its most ardent advocates never have 
done,—He who implored it of the Father in a prayer yet to 
be answered,—He who will accomplish it in his own good 
hour, and in his own wiser methods, has taught us in that 
petition itself that for the union greater sanctification 
is needed, and that the process to sanctification is through 
obedience to the truth. Until a higher grade of holiness, 
not impeccable indeed, but far beyond our present attain¬ 
ments, pervades the church, her union would form her into 
a mass, unwieldy by its weight and oppressive by its 
power. In effecting that sanctification, and in seeking that 
union, the churches would sacrifice the very means of 
God’s own appointment, if they surrendered truth, as they 
conscientiously supposed it, for the sake of expediency ; 
and despairing of ultimate union on God’s basis, the com¬ 
mon reception of the truth, sought to effect it upon a basis 
of human invention. A base broader than the truth must 
rest for support on the shifting sands of interest, opinion, 
and fashion ; and ultimately sink beneath the weight which 
it bears. Mutual sympathy and fraternal conference as to 
the fields of labor, are all that seem needed. To secure 
these, some such plan as Carey wished might be adopted, 


XXXVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


—a conference of evangelical Christians, to be held every 
ten years. He would have it, for the sake of easier access 
to the Eastern missionaries, held at the Cape of Good 
Hope.* 

6. A question, suggested by our author, with regard to 
the duties which the missionary churches of the age owe 
to the Christians of Russia,f leads to the wider inquiry, in 
what manner should those now laboring for the heathen ex¬ 
press their sympathy for those of the established churches of 
Europe or Asia, that although nominally Christian, have lost 
the fervor of true piety ? To the ill-disguised Socinianism 
of the church of Geneva ; to the Neology that but recently 
bore almost unquestioned sway in the pulpits and theologi¬ 
cal chairs of large portions of Germany ; to the formalism 
and superstition of the Greek church, with a ritual in 
some respects even more cumbrous than that of Roman¬ 
ism ; to the imbecility of the Coptic church, and the 
Paganized and spurious Christianity of Abyssinia ; to the 
Armenian, and the Chaldean Christians, and the other 
Christians of the East do we owe nothing, in seeking the 
evangelization of the world ? There are portions of the 
heathen world we cannot reach but with the consent of 
some of these enfeebled and corrupt churches. If we 
suppose them, as do some, entitled to the unquestioning 
recognition of all their claims, would not the same princi¬ 
ple have required the purest of apostolic churches to have 
fraternized with the guilty churches of Sardis and Laod- 
icea ? And here is seen one aspect at least of the evils 
which a civil establishment inflicts on religion. Wherev¬ 
er any of these churches are the creatures of the state, 
representing the religion of the rulers of the lands they oc¬ 
cupy, any interference, however innocent and scriptural, 
with their errors, is in danger of being regarded as an 
assault on the political institutions of the country. The 
apostate church has but to call for the aid of the kingdom 
to which she has bound herself, and dungeons open and 
chains are rattled before the adventurous evangelist, to 
deter his temerity. And if strong in the simple faith of 
the gospel, he perseveres and suffers, though with the heart 
of a martyr, it is with the infamy of a rebel. On the other 


* Life of Carey, p. 323. 


t Page 385. 




INTRODUCTION. XXXvii 

hand, do the devoted ministers of a purer establishment, 
that of England, for instance, seek to commend .the true 
gospel to those churches who have declined from its doc¬ 
trines and its holiness, their enterprise is regarded with 
malignity, and with the continual suspicion that it shrouds 
political designs in favor of the country from which they 
come, and that the garb of the herald of the cross covers 
the designs of the spy or the political emissary. All the 
crimes, too, and usurpations of the Christian country, and 
from these what political power is free, will be charged by 
the strangers whom the missionary visits, on his church, if 
endowed and established by the nation. 

Yet amid all these disadvantages, the British govern¬ 
ment has lately planted a missionary bishop beyond its own 
proper territories, having his seat at Jerusalem. By the 
mandate accompanying his appointment, it is understood 
that his jurisdiction is defined as embracing the countries 
of Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Assyria. As in these terri¬ 
tories, great as may be the amount of her commerce and 
the number of her travellers, Britain yet owns not a foot 
of soil, and in all of these countries nominal Christian 
churches exist, the precedent seems one that should have 
its weight with some who are inclined to condemn, as in¬ 
trusive and unwarrantable, all interference by our Chris¬ 
tian church with the territory of another community, 
claiming to believe the same gospel. To sanction as 
Christian all that chooses to call itself by that honored 
name, is to canonize the bats that cluster around some 
time-honored cathedral, and claim it as their home. It is 
to relinquish one of the first principles of the Reformation, 
and condemn as rash innovators and schismatics, men who 
have died the martyr’s death, and have hitherto been re¬ 
membered as wearing the martyr’s crown. 

In our own favored land, with no establishment for any 
sect, and protection for all, no Christian church can hedge 
around any portion of our territory as her inheritance, and 
forbid all trespassing on the deserts she guards. Each 
with an equal right to proselyte, and each laboring side by 
side, Truth has all the advantages she asks; and Falsehood 
is stripped of that adventitious patronage from the state, 
which she has no right to ask. Upon the same principles, it 

4* 


XXXV111 


INTRODUCTION. 


would seem, all purer Christian churches, those established 
by the state, or those independent of it, whether endowed 
by government, or whether left portionless, except of the 
promises of Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit, must 
claim to labor when they enter the territory covered by a 
church whose Christianity is but nominal or declining. If 
rejecting the principle at home, where they are endowed 
by the state, they must adopt the principle when attempting 
labors in a foreign state. And thus do really evangelical 
churches, now endowed by the state, find themselves, in 
their missionary zeal, compelled to renounce one of the 
foundations of an establishment, the right of a government 
to provide the religion of the nation. The universal diffu¬ 
sion of a missionary spirit, in regard to churches having 
but a nominal Christianity, would ultimately undermine 
all established Christian churches; a result its earlier ad¬ 
vocates never perhaps contemplated,—a result from which 
many of its friends would as yet shrink. 

That most were to be hoped from a movement towards 
reformation, emanating from the bosom of such a declining 
church itself, is agreed by all. And for such men to rise 
out of the midst of the surrounding moral desolation, as 
Luther and Zuingle, sprung up amid the darkness of 
Romanism, the Christians of our time should fervently pray. 
Yet when such a movement does not appear, and a fallen 
church gives no token of awaking, it is neither forbidden 
by Scripture nor by the rights of nations, that the citizens 
of a more favored country should use their personal influ¬ 
ence to evangelize the inhabitants of another less enlight¬ 
ened land. No statutes can abrogate the privileges of our 
common brotherhood, and when the rising fafth of the 
church, sweeping over the metes and bounds of national 
division, shall pour its waters into lands now dyked and 
guarded by an established church, the government, how¬ 
ever mighty its resources, or eager in its vigilance, or cruel 
in its enactments, thaj should seek to bid back the swell¬ 
ing flood, will be as wisely employed as the king who 
chided the rising billows for laving his royal feet, and we 
may add, it will be employed as successfully. A mightier 
voice has issued its decree, that the uttermost parts of our 
world shall be the possession of Christ; and that the del- 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXXIX 


uge of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover 
the face of the whole earth. 

7. The duties imposed upon the Protestant churches, 
by the reviving zeal of Romanism, and its rival missions, 
planted, as many of those more recently established are, 
seemingly where they might best check the missions of 
Protestantism, furnish another subject of inquiry. In the 
Sandwich Islands, as in Syria and in Persia, the influence 
of the French government has been employed to foster 
Romish priests and colleges, one of whose chief designs 
seems to be to snatch from the hands of Protestant Chris¬ 
tians a missionary work in which they have labored long, 
and in some of these fields with the richest blessing. The 
apostate church, that in the days of Napoleon, seemed to 
many of the Protestants of Europe sold to a captivity 
from which there could be no return, and bowed down under 
a decrepitude never to be remedied by any skill, has dis¬ 
played a vigor and enterprise alike astonishing to its 
friends and its foes. The church, of which La Mennais 
spoke not long since as having the dust of the sepulchre 
on its mute lips, is lifting up anew that voice, whose anath¬ 
ema once shook thrones, and its tones are not tremulous, 
though now it utters admonitions where once it pronounced 
its interdicts. The restoration of the Jesuit order, the 
most able and unfaltering champions the Romish See 
has ever had, seems now beginning to be felt, not only 
in the work of education, but in that of missions also. 
They are planting their colleges in our own western world 
and in the mountains of Syria, in Protestant England as 
in Catholic Ireland. The last Provincial Council of the 
Romish church in the United States placed all the Indian 
missions in this country under the charge of that order, 
and fathers of the order of Loyola are now laboring beyond 
the Rocky Mountains. It has been said that all the Rom¬ 
ish missions throughout the globe have recently been 
placed by the Roman Pontiff in the hands of the same 
body. However this may be, certain it is that the great 
mission seminary at Rome, the Propaganda, has been 
committed to them as instructers,* and thus they are en¬ 
trusted with shaping the character and prescribing the 


* Dublin Review, 1842. 




xl 


INTRODUCTION. 


doctrinal sentiments of the more able and influential among 
the rising missionaries. 

The rapid increase given within the last few years, to 
the chief Romish body for the support of missions, the 
Society at Lyons, is certainly not among the least remark¬ 
able signs of the times. Wiseman, in 1836, spoke of the 
sum raised by this institution in 1834, as being then less 
than that received by “ the poorest of the English mission¬ 
ary societies ” of the Protestant churches,* while the 
annual income of the Propaganda, as he stated, did not 
reach <£30,000, and out of that sum its one hundred stu¬ 
dents were to be educated. The receipts of the Lyons 
Society for 1840 were $484,000, or nearly 2,500,000 
francs. This does not represent the whole amount of its 
expenditures, for having on hand, at the beginning of the 
year, 802,941 francs, its whole funds for the year were 
3,276,519 francs, or about $649,000, and the total of its 
expenditures was about $528,000. The society issues the 
“ Annals of the Propagation of the Faith,” of which jour¬ 
nal it prints 120,000 copies, in seven languages. Well 
may it seem to a zealous Romanist, as it is styled by De 
Geramb, the abbot of La Trappe, “ the most useful enter¬ 
prise of which the church in these latter days can boast.” 
It gathers its funds mostly in very small amounts, and from 
the poorer classes, and to induce the more free contributions 
of the faithful, those giving regularly to it receive the merit 
of its good works.! 

To these renewed efforts in the field of foreign missions, 
the church of Rome has been stimulated, in part perhaps 
by its endeavors to discredit Protestantism. The earlier 
assailants of the Reformed churches were accustomed to 
name among the evidences of the divine right of their own 
Romish church, its being the only missionary body. Now 
they must content themselves with laboring to prove that 
their’s are the more successful labors. Wiseman, accord¬ 
ingly, in a course of sermons preached in London, during 
Lent, in the year 1836, devoted two lectures to an exami¬ 
nation of the relative resources and results of the Catholic 


* He estimates it in that year at 404,727 francs.—Lecture on Doct. and Prac of 
Cath., Ch. I, 176. 

I “ A small alms and a short prayer are alone required to entitle its members to 
have a share in the merits of those missionaries who expose themselves to so 
many dangers and suffer so many privations.”— Geramb's Visit to Rome , p. 54.— 
Am. £d. 



INTRODUCTION. 


xli 


and Protestant missions. He would fain show that as to 
the laborers, the wealth and numbers are with us; as to 
converts, the success is almost exclusively with them. 
Any intelligent Protestant who refers to his pages, will 
detect the grossly prejudiced and partial estimate which 
he has formed of some most successful endeavors of Protes¬ 
tant Christians for the heathen, and discrepancies between 
his diminished amount of Romish labor and expenditure, 
and the accounts elsewhere given by Roman Catholic au¬ 
thorities. 

That the number of nominal adherents won by their 
earlier or more recent labors to the religion of Christ is 
great, may be readily allowed. That there have been 
among the missionaries of this corrupt church men of 
singular disinterestedness, ability and devotedness, it were 
equally ungenerous and unjust to dispute. But the mode 
to which they have resorted for the purpose of obtaining 
proselytes, and the principles and practices in which multi¬ 
tudes of those proselytes have been trained, show sufficiently 
that in some countries at least the world is not greatly 
the debtor of such evangelists, and leave reason to fear that 
among vast multitudes, so gathered into the number of 
Christ’s professed disciples, there would be few whom he 
would recognize as such were he to return to our world, 
few whom he will acknowledge in the day of judgment. 
When, as on the Orinooko and also in California, they en¬ 
couraged or connived at forays made by their Indian con¬ 
verts into the heathen tribes for the purpose of bringing 
in as captives women and children to be made Christians, 
we cannot think very favorably either of the teacher or the 
proselyte. As to their converts in India, setting aside the 
testimony of Dubois, to which reference has already been 
made, one of their missionary prelates in that country has, 
in our own times used strong language, when declaring 
that their “ proselytes have rather become so by casualty, 
than through preaching. In ordinary cases, the hope of 
bettering their condition induces them to become converts to 
Christianity We cannot form a much more favorable 
opinion of the spirituality of the religion they planted in 

* Letter of F. A. Pezzoni, bishop of Esbonen, dated Agra, 20 Aug., 1832. WolfFs 
Researches and Missionary Labors, from 1831 to 1834. Philadelphia, 1837. p. 213. 
Wolff gives the original Italian at page 206. In Read[s Memoirs of Eabajee, we 
need not therefore wonder to find it said, though here it is Protestant authority, 



xlii 


INTRODUCTION. 


the far-famed missions of Paraguay, when we hear one of 
the missionaries who had long labored there, and left it 
only on the suppression and exile of his order, Dobriz¬ 
hoffer, declaring, with a simplicity and candor that, how¬ 
ever characteristic of the man, were scarce to have been 
expected in a Jesuit father: “If, according to St. Paul, 
amongst other nations faith enters by the ear, with the 
savages of Paraguay it can only be thrust in by the mouth. 
Hence our anxiety lest cattle should fail us.’’* * And else¬ 
where he says, “ The most eloquent teacher of God’s word 
will do but little good in Paraguay, unless he be liberal 
in clothing and feeding his disciples.”t Our Lord rejected 
the disciples of the loaves, because they followed him mere¬ 
ly to be fed. This church would seem to hail them as 
converts, whatever be their motives. A recent traveller, 
Forbes, in his account of the missions of California, while 
aiming to exalt them at the expense of what he terms “ the 
Methodist and Calvinist missions,” yet describes the Indians 
as degraded, wretched and servile. Even the language of 
Southey, when painting the missions of Paraguay in glow¬ 
ing hues, contains admissions that show sufficiently that 
the type of character produced was not that favorable to 
the best interests of the race.J 

As to the character of the laborers themselves upon whom 
Romanism has leaned in the work of proselytism, it would 
be unjust to forget the many who have encountered fearful 
peril, privation and death in its most terrific forms with a 

“The vast numbers of Hindoos and Mussulmans converted by the Romanists differ 
but little from their heathen neighbors except that, having thrown off the few re¬ 
straints which caste and superstition imposed, they enjoy greater license to indulge 
in all kinds of vice .”—Christian Brahmin , I, 27. 

* Dobrizhoffer. Account of the Abipones, III, 391. 

t Ibid. II, 134. The work of Dobrizhoffer was published in Latin by the author. 
An English translation appeared at London, made by a daughter of Coleridge, the 
poet, who, in some of his works, speaks with paternal pride of the merits of style in 
the version. It was reviewed in the London Quarterly, apparently by Southey, at 
much length, and furnished him also with the incidents of his “Tale of Paraguay,” 
in which he speaks warmly of the interest of the work, and the character of the 
writer. 

J “ They on the Jesuit, who was nothing loth, 

Reposed alike their conscience and their cares; 

And he, with equal faith, the trust of both 
Accepted and discharged. The bliss is theirs 
Of that entire dependence, that prepares 
Entire submission, let what may befal: 

And his whole careful course of life declares 
That for their good he holds them thus in thrall, 

Their father and their friend, priest, ruler, all in all.” 

Tale of Paraguay, Canto IV. 



INTRODUCTION. 


Xliii 

constancy and meek courage, that the men of a purer faith 
might well envy. Of their earlier laborers in China, Milne 
has said, “ The learning, personal virtues and ardent zeal 
of some of them, deserve to be imitated by all future mis¬ 
sionaries ; will be equalled by few, and perhaps rarely ex¬ 
ceeded by any.”* * * § 

In our days, their missionaries and converts in Cochin- 
China have been called to endure trials issuing in some 
cases in fearful martyrdom, and their faith has not faltered.f 
Yet, as early as the middle of the seventeenth century,when 
the missions of Rome were in their glory and strength, the 
Jesuit Acosta holds language with regard to the missiona¬ 
ries, that has been quoted by Baxter,J and which sufficient¬ 
ly shows the want of spirituality in many of these evangelists 
of the heathen. In the latter portion of the next century 
were found among the emissaries of the church to India such 
men as the missionary bishop of Halicarnassus, who head¬ 
ed a troop of two thousand Mahrattas, plundered villages, 
and shared the booty with his soldiers. It was this edifying 
personage to whom, as Voltaire says, Lalli, the French 
general, was accustomed to say : “ My good bishop, how 
have you contrived to escape hanging Of the arts they 
have used, the world has already heard too much, in their 
eastern and their western fields of labor. The amount of 
wrong thus done to the cause of Christ and the souls of 
men is incalculable. The world has been flattered and 
humored into a religion that left its worst superstitions 
often entirely untouched, and but threw the crucifix and 
the scapular over the neck, while the heart surrendered 
none of its old idols, and knew nothing of the renewing 
grace of God. And even in the best of both teachers and 
proselytes,there was a reliance on human merit, and an ap¬ 
peal to self-righteousness, that made privation, torture and 
even death welcome, because it was supposed that they 
gave claims on heaven. 

It is a gratifying circumstance, that, amid its increased 
zeal for foreign missions the hold of the Romish See or 
some of its home possessions seems evidently loosened. 

* Medhurst’s China, p. 203. 

t This persecution commenced in 1833. Already 400 churches have been destroy¬ 
ed by it_ Wiseman. 

I Works, Orme’s Ed., vol. II, 23. 

§ Voltaire, Fragm. Historiq. sur l’Inde, xiii, xv. 



xliv 


INTRODUCTION. 


Spain herself and the countries speaking the Spanish lan¬ 
guage, are no longer governed by the Pontiff with that 
stern and unquestioned sway which he once exercised. It 
may yet be the policy of Protestantism to carry “ the war 
into Africa,” by missionary efforts, for the benefit of south¬ 
ern Europe and South America, thus retaliating in her own 
ancient dominions, the attempted inroads of the Romish 
See on the fields of Protestant missions. That the Refor¬ 
mation should have been checked and crushed as it was in 
Spain and Italy, was among the mysterious dispensations 
of Providence. Hindrances then existing, are lessened, if 
not entirely removed, in our day. 

Meanwhile the evident duty of Protestant Christians is 
to emulate all of zeal, and energy, and enterprise, and self- 
denial, that may be exhibited in the past or present move¬ 
ments of the Romish missions. The issue of the conflict 
cannot be doubtful, for prophecy has sealed the fate of that 
antichristian church. She has herself pronounced her own 
doom by setting herself so madly against the word of God. 
It is to the undue veneration for this, and the unwise em¬ 
ployment of it, that Wiseman in his laborious comparison 
of the missions of the rival communions, ascribes the failure 
he imagines himself to have discovered in the missionary 
efforts of the Reformed churches. “ The blessing of 
Heaven is not upon the work, nor iiis approbation 

UPON ITS PRINCIPLE,-THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF THE WRIT¬ 

TEN word.”* The strong language in which the bulls of 
the Vatican have, in recent years, condemned the move¬ 
ments of the Bible Society, the mingling of inveterate dis¬ 
like and ill-disguised alarm that breathe through these 
documents, whenever they touch upon the free dissemina¬ 
tion of the Scriptures; and the share which their love and 
reverence for the Scriptures, and their desire for its study 
by each private Christian, had in bringing down upon the 
Jansenists, the overwhelming condemnation pronounced 
upon them by the famed bull Unigenitus, suggest some 

* Wiseman. Lect. on Doct and Prac. I, 169. In the same spirit, Judson and his 
heroic wife, whose name is an honor to her country and sex, are spoken of, as 
“ these simple persons,” for laboring to translate the whole’Bible into Burman; and 
their mission is pronounced “a complete failure.” We question whether the 
Catholic missionaries, who, according to his own showing, commenced their labors 
in Burmah in 1719, more than a century since, can show any results to be com¬ 
pared with those of the labors of the Judsons. 



INTRODUCTION. 


xlv 


significant lessons. They prove very conclusively that 
Rome knows, as one of her most vulnerable points, her 
denial of the Scriptures to the laity; and dreads, as the 
most dangerous of her assailants, those who translate and 
distribute, and by their unwearied preaching commend the 
written word of God to the nations. In one of those apoc¬ 
ryphal tales which this church has introduced into the 
canon of Revelation, the prophet Daniel is described as 
poisoning the idol god of Babylon with some strange com¬ 
pound. The fable seems one in which Rome has fore¬ 
shadowed her own fate. Not by the force of persecution, 
not by the aid of laws and battles and treaties,—not by the 
rise of some new Cromwell, the cannon of whose navies 
shall shake the Vatican as once did those of his admiral 
Blake,—not by the appearance of some new Gustavus as¬ 
serting the liberties of the Protestant north at the head of 
his martial squadrons on the fields of some new Lutzen,— 
not by the re-appearance of Bourbon conducting again his 
German troops to the sack of the sacred city, or of Bona¬ 
parte sending his infidel Frenchmen to lead the successor 
of Peter in captivity, — but by the simple Scriptures, 
Rome is yet to fall. Truth shall poison the dragon. The 
Lord, “ by the breath of his mouth f shall consume Anti¬ 
christ. By setting herself in this determined hostility 
against the use of the Scriptures of God, the Romish 
church has inserted her name in the same list with those 
of Antiochus, under the old, and Dioclesian under the new 
dispensation, who in like manner sought to extirpate the 
book of God. She has ascertained her character, she has 
decided her fate. 

Imbedded as that book has become in the literature of 
the world,—translated as even in our own times it has 
been, into all the chief dialects of the globe,—it is beyond 
the reach of her endeavors. Its past doctrines are, to the 
most careless observer, the pledge of its future conquests. 
It smote Jove on the summit of his shadowy Olympus, and 
the gods of classic mythology, the rabble of their Pantheon 
vanished before its sacred might. It smote the Odin and 
the Thor of our forefathers in northern Europe, and routed 
the phantoms of the Valhalla. Even thus shall it smite in 
its irresistible energy the gods of all nations; and be seen, 

5 


INTRODUCTION. 


xlvi 

at last, the literature of all lands doing it homage, exalted 
above all other volumes, traditions and laws, as the history 
of the world’s one Redeemer, the law that giveth life, the 
book of God. 

In the remarks which have been made, it will be ob¬ 
served, that we have not generally taken up the topics 
suggested by our author. The amount of effort due to 
the Jews is, for instance, an inquiry proposed by him, 
to which we have not referred. The questions thus to be 
settled are many and grave. We have but cursorily no¬ 
ticed a few that from various causes have interested us. 
It has not been with the hope of throwing much light upon 
them. But, as in the missionary enterprise, the contribu¬ 
tions of the Sabbath school child and the humble offering 
of the widow are cast together into the treasury, so must it 
be in settling the policy of that enterprise. The mission¬ 
ary work is eminently, in all its departments, a collective 
and a cumulative one. These reflections, thrown out 
amid the pressure of other engagements, are cast, as of old 
the soldiers cast each man his stone on the grave G f some 
fallen chieftain, and gradually the heap became a monu¬ 
ment, not only towering over the plain around, but a sea¬ 
mark eyed by the voyager on the distant waters. Every 
mite given, every reader won, every inquiry as to our own 
means of aiding the enterprise, and every prayer breathed 
for its success, goes to swell the amount of interest felt in 
that cause of missions which must be dear to the philan¬ 
thropist, the patriot and the Christian,—goes towards the 
accomplishment of the promises which assure us of its final 
triumph in bringing the world again into obedience to its 
Maker and God. W. R. W. 


THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

> 


PART I. 

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE VIEWED IN ITS RELA¬ 
TION TO THE WORD OF GOD. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE SCRIPTURE THEORY OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY FOR 
THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD, STATED AND EXPLAINED. 

I. Mutual dependence and influence is the law of the 
universe. Look in whatever direction and examine 
whatever object we may, we find nothing insulated and 
alone. From the globe we inhabit, and which is one of 
a visible community of worlds, up to the great sidereal 
system, the whole of which is apparently moving to¬ 
gether through space, and down to the minutest atom 
that floats in the air, all are bound together, and con¬ 
stantly acting on each other, by definite and universal 
laws. The body of the reader and the book which he 
is reading, are held by gravitation in union with the 
remotest parts of the created system ; while the material 
influences constantly transmitted from the most distant 
regions of space, place them in physical contact with 
the universe. 


4 





38 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


In this literal dependence of every part of the mate¬ 
rial economy on every other part, we behold an image 
of the reciprocal action and mutual relation of all ani¬ 
mated being. Here, each is connected with all—and 
the whole to God. Here, in the absence of sin, we 
behold the sublime spectacle of the infinitely blessed 
God surrounded by distinct orders of sentient, happy 
beings ; so various as to reach from the archangel down 
to the insect, yet so closely related as parts of a mighty 
whole, that no single member can be detached and 
made independent of the rest; while the well-being 
of each is an ingredient in the happiness of the whole; 
and all, according to their respective natures, ascribe 
glory to Him, their centre and their source, by whom 
they are alike pervaded, and in whom they are all one. 

That this interdependence, as far as it relates to 
the human family, is part of an original plan, is ob¬ 
vious. By creating, at first, one common father of the 
species, the Almighty designed that each individual 
should stand related to all the rest, and feel himself 
pledged to promote their happiness. By rendering us 
necessary to each other’s welfare, he sought to train us 
up to a humble imitation of his own goodness, to 
make every hand and heart a consecrated channel for 
his love to flow in, and thus to find our own happiness 
in the happiness of others. In such a state, he who 
approached nearest to the pattern of the Divine Be¬ 
nevolence, would necessarily have been the object of 
the greatest admiration; and as admiration leads, by 
a law of our nature, to imitation, men would have been 
always advancing towards higher and higher degrees 
of perfection. Inferior excellence being constantly 
drawn upwards by the strong moral attraction of that 
which was above it, a process of assimilation to the 
blessed God would have been perpetually going on, 
which would have rendered earth a copy of heaven. 

The connexion then subsisting between them would 
have been one, not merely of mutual dependence but 
of reciprocal influence. And this moral influence it is 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


39 


which would have invested their mutual relation with 
so much importance. Could we have looked down 
upon them we should have seen that every word ut¬ 
tered, projected an influence; that every action per¬ 
formed, drew after it a train of influence; that every 
relation sustained, was a line along which was con¬ 
stantly transmitted a vital influence; that every indi¬ 
vidual was a centre ever radiating streams of living 
moral influence. 

Could we have selected one such individual and have 
investigated his moral history, we should have found 
that from the first moment of his existence his cha¬ 
racter went on daily and hourly streaming with more 
than electric fluid—with a subtle penetrating element 
of moral influence ; that in whatever society he min¬ 
gled, he left on their character, secret, perhaps, but 
not imperceptible traces that he had been among them; 
that his influence operated involuntarily: for though he 
might choose, in any given instance, what he would 
do, yet having done it, he could not choose what in¬ 
fluence it should have; that it operated universally; 
never terminating on himself, but extending to all 
within his circle, emanating from each of these again 
as from a fresh centre, and thus transmitted on in silent 
but certain effect to the outermost circle of social ex¬ 
istence ; that it was indestructible, not a particle ever 
being lost, but the whole of it taken up into the 
general system of cause and effect, and always in 
operation somewhere. And thus we should have seen 
that though he was apparently as isolated as a ship 
in the midst of the Atlantic, the waves which the 
motion of that ship generates from shore to shore, were 
only an image of his ever-circling, widening, shoreless 
influence; and that the influence which thus blended 
and bound him up with the whole race, invisible and 
impalpable as it is, is yet the mightiest element of 
society, the element wielded by God himself. 

But, then, if such the relation and such the distinct 
influence of these holy, happy beings, their response- 


40 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


bility for the use of that influence would have been 
proportionate. The very fact that God had invested 
them with such influence would, without any verbal 
command, have been regarded by them as a sufficient 
expression of his will that they must use it to the 
utmost, and for his glory. They could not have lived 
to themselves if they would; for from the moment 
they began to live, their influence necessarily linked 
them to the universe. And they would not if they 
could, for they would have found that living to God 
was usefulness, excellence, and happiness, all in one. 
They would have found that not more certainly is the 
order of the material world maintained by the action of 
matter upon matter, than the order of the moral world 
is by the action of mind upon mind. And under the 
hallowed influence of that reciprocal action, they would 
have been perpetually brightening and rising into the 
image of God. 

How far the inhabitants of the celestial world would 
—on the hypothesis of man having retained his primal 
innocence—have influenced, by intercourse, the human 
character, admits of little more than conjecture. That 
He who has united distinct material worlds by indisso¬ 
luble bonds, should leave two orders of holy intelligences, 
both of which had not only sprung from the same Fount 
of being, but acknowledged the same laws, and exhibited 
the same paternal image, to pursue their respective 
courses in perfect and unpassable separation from each 
other, is, to say the least, highly improbable. That the 
angelic “sons of God” took a deep and rejoicing interest 
in the creation of our world, is fact of divine revelation. 
And the scriptural history of the fall of man leaves us 
to infer, that, if such of the angelic order as “kept not 
their first estate” had access to the human mind for 
purposes of evil, those of them who retained their original 
purity would not have been denied access of a similar 
kind for purposes of good. And thus, the intelligent 
universe would have exhibited the sublime spectacle of 
distinct orders of holy beings, each composed of innu- 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


41 


merable members, producing and receiving continual 
modifications of character by the mutual action of all 
its parts; and that modification assimilating them to 
the central and solar glory, on whom they were all alike 
dependent, and in whom they were all one. 

II. But suppose, it might have been said—suppose 
that, by some dreadful possibility, a principle of evil 
should obtain entrance into this all-related system. If 
that entrance should be obtained, first, indeed, among 
the members of the human order, it is possible that the 
members of the angelic order being less accessible to us 
than we are to them, might escape the contagion. But 
if it should obtain, first, in the higher order, how likely 
is it that it will descend and be communicated, by 
intercourse, to the family of man. In that event— 
the very prospect and possibility of which appals— 
the reciprocal influence of mind on mind, mightily 
efficacious as it is for good, may become equally effi¬ 
cacious for evil. One being may become the tempter 
of another. By the union of each with all, the moral 
poison may be taken up and circulated through the 
whole social system. The very first sin would be felt 
by all the race, and to the last moment of time. If 
any thing were then wanting to hasten and seal the 
self-destruction of the guilty community, it would be 
only the presence of some leading spirit who should 
be competent to organize and work its complicated 
agencies on a comprehensive plan. Should such a 
consummation arrive, how direful the results to those 
immediately involved, and how incalculable the effects 
on the universe at large ! 

Now this hypothetical case is only a literal descrip¬ 
tion of the history and actual condition of the world. 
At the time of the creation a principle of evil was at 
large in the universe. Satan, together with an un¬ 
known multitude of associate rebels, having swerved 
from his allegiance to “the blessed and only Poten¬ 
tate,” had been driven from the immediate presence of 

4# 


I 


42 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


God, cut off from the loyal part of the creation, and 
doomed to be the prey of his own mighty depravity. 
Actuated by that universal law by which each being 
and principle seeks to conform all things to its own 
nature, and stimulated by implacable hatred against 
God, he came to efface from our world the divine 
image and to stamp his own on its breast instead. In 
the execution of this dreadful project he succeeded. 
By no employment of force, but by the simple action 
of mind on mind through the medium of the senses, 
Satan prevailed on man to sin. As the first sinner 
was the first man, human nature was poisoned in its 
fountain. The first man is sinning still, in effect, in 
each of all his posterity. The first sin is thrilling 
still; and will vibrate on through the whole line of 
being, till it reaches the last of human kind. How 
closely compacted, how vitally interwoven, must be 
the system of our mutual dependence, and how mys¬ 
teriously penetrating and pervading the principle of 
our reciprocal influence, when a single sin can thus 
distract and derange the whole ! 

Yet now it was that man first made the monstrous 
essay of living to himself. As if he had only to with¬ 
draw his allegiance from God in order to dissolve 
relations with the universe, selfishness now became 
the law of his sinful being. But such separation was 
impossible. Live to himself, in the sense of selfish 
appropriation, he might; but detach himself from the 
relations of dependence and influence he could not. 
Cease to be the centre of a hallowed influence he 
might, but cease to be the centre of all influence he 
could not. From the moment he ceased to be a uni¬ 
versal good he became a universal evil. Each act 
of selfishness is the infliction of a universal injury. 
And every successive sin awakens afresh the echoes of 
the original curse. Not only did our primary relations 
of mutual influence remain, the introduction of sin 
appears to have stimulated them into preternatural 
activity and power. Every man in effect became a 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


43 


Jeroboam—his life laid a train of evil for multitudes, 
and for ages to come. His infantine hand could open 
a floodgate of evil which the arm of Omnipotence 
alone could shut. His careless laugh could do more 
to counteract a moral principle than the proclamation 
of a law could do to enforce it. Though touching 
only one point in society, he could send an impulse 
of evil through the whole. While the thunders of 
Sinai soon died away to a whisper on the ear of 
the world, many a whisper of evil, as it passed from 
lip to lip, waxed louder and louder, till nations echoed 
with the sound, and distant ages received its reverber¬ 
ations as possessing all the authority of law. 

Parental influences, blending with the first rudi¬ 
ments of infant being, tainted character in its very 
source. Familiar intercourse became one of the grand 
ordinances of mutual temptation and ruin. Relation¬ 
ships, calculated to circulate happiness through all the 
veins of the social system, were perverted by sin into 
so many channels of destruction. Tendencies and 
influences of evil which had long been gathering, 
gradually assumed the definite and enduring form of 
civil government, and gave a character to nations; 
from which again, as from so many centres, they pro¬ 
pagated their effects through all the globe and for all 
time. Evil example, acquiring the despotic power 
of precedent and custom, showed itself stronger than 
any thing human which could be brought to coun¬ 
teract it; tended to displace every other power, and 
claimed to reign alone. In a word, the social principle 
in all its forms, entered into the service of sin, and 
showed itself mightier for evil than for good. Thrones 
and temples, collecting the scattered elements of evil, 
concentrated, strengthened, and gave them back again 
to the world under the solemn names of law and 
religion. Yes, religion itself, or that at least which 
bore the name, lived only to aggravate the evil and 
to keep it in constant and destructive circulation. Satan 
became “the god of this world.” Wherever he looked, 


44 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


the expanse was his own. Temptation in his hands 
had become a science, and sin was taught by rule. 
The world was for him one storehouse of evil—an 
armory, in which every object and event ranked as a 
weapon, and all w r ere classed and kept ready for 
service. He beheld the complicated machinery of evil 
which his mighty malignity had constructed in full and 
efficient operation, and the whole resulting in a vast, 
organized, and consolidated empire. 

But more; not onlv did the laws of our mutual 
influence remain—not only did sin stimulate them into 
fearful activity—they increased in power with each suc¬ 
cessive age. The mechanical philosophy informs us 
that, on the principle of the equality of action and 
reaction, no motion impressed by natural causes, or by 
human agency, is ever obliterated. No sound or sen¬ 
timent therefore, which has ever been uttered, is or can 
be lost. The pulsations of the air which the utterance 
set in motion, continue in their effect to operate still; 
so that every sound or sentiment will be recoverable 
in the most distant ages. No deed has ever been 
performed without, leaving behind it, on some part of 
the material universe, an indestructible witness to its 
existence. Had any one of all these sentiments and 
deeds never been uttered or performed, certain im¬ 
pressions would have been wanting from the material 
elements which they now contain ; so that they form 
at this moment a minute and faithful record, to an eye 
capable of reading it, of ail the eventful past. Their 
existing state is the complicated result of all the im¬ 
pressions produced on them from the commencement 
of time, and presents to the eye of Omniscience 
a vast book of remembrance, from whose unerring 
pages he could read forth at large the history of the 
world. 

Just so, when the world had existed four thousand 
years, its moral condition was the exact result of the 
moral influences of all the past; for it had received 
the collected effect of the whole. Not only are all 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


45 


contemporaneous things mutually influenced and con¬ 
nected ; but there is also a constant increase in the 
onward course and widening stream of influence' from 
age to age. As every generation owes some part of 
its character to that which preceded it, so it imparts 
some portion of its own to that which follows it, and 
thus propagates the blended and augmented influences 
of itself and all its predecessors. And this shows the 
utter impossibility there was that man himself should 
ever remedy his depraved condition. By necessity of 
nature, it became worse and worse. Each age in suc¬ 
cession inheriting the accumulated evils of the past, 
and adding to them something of its own, transmitted 
the whole to that which followed, and thus propelled 
the world in its downward course with an ever augment¬ 
ing force. While the air he breathed was only the 
record of the past, the moral atmosphere in which he 
moved, from the first moment of his existence to the 
last, was not merely the record, but the substance of 
the past ; and as such it was one of the elements, a part 
of the material, out of which his character was neces¬ 
sarily formed. It was the atmosphere of a pesthouse, 
and he entered it not merely to breathe the deadly 
infection of all who had preceded him there, but to add 
to it the infection of his own disease for all who came 
after him. So that, even then, when, compared with 
the unity and amity of heaven, mankind presented the 
aspect of mutual hostility and universal disorganization, 
it might most truly have been said, in the sense of 
relative influence, “no man liveth to himself;” every 
act of selfishness and sin is the infraction of a universal 
law, and as such the infliction of an universal evil. 

III. What, then, is all lost ? Is the benevolent de¬ 
sign of God in appointing the laws of our reciprocal 
dependence and influence, irretrievably defeated ? Was 
the dreadful event of its perversion unforeseen and 
unprovided for ? Has the chain of dependence which 
unites us together, passed entirely into the hands of the 


46 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


Destroyer, and is it henceforth to be used only for 
dragging mankind together to perdition ? If not, where 
is the remedy ? What can be the nature of that plan 
which, when all the influences of earth have been per¬ 
verted to evil, can, without doing violence to any 
original principle convert the whole into good ? What 
can be the nature of that Being who, coming into the 
midst of a world where all men are laboring to live 
to themselves, can say, with a power which fulfils its 
own word, “no man liveth to himself?”—who can 
arrest a world that has broken away from its proper 
centre, and can return it to its appointed orbit;—who 
can stand in the midst of the great vortex of selfishness, 
and say to the mighty maelstroom, in the height and 
fury of its all-absorbing whirl, “flow to the circum¬ 
ference,” and say it with an effect which can make it 
refund and float its choicest treasures to the ends of 
the earth ? in a word, which can make men who were 
their own centre and circumference, take Him for 
their centre, and for their circumference the universe ? 
What can be the nature of such a Being, and where is 
he to be found ? 

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
the knowledge of God ! ” Not only was the fearful 
catastrophe not unforeseen, the event demonstrated 
that mercy had only been waiting the moment of its 
occurrence, in order to unfold a plan which was evi¬ 
dently calculated on the certainty of that moment arriv¬ 
ing—which took advantage of all its dreadful pecu¬ 
liarities—and of which every subsequent event in the 
divine economy has been only a constituent part, and 
every age witnessed the progressive fulfilment. And 
still more ; not only does the economy of our redemp¬ 
tion propose to mitigate the destructive tendency of 
our influence on each other, it actually presses that 
influence into its own service, and proposes, by the 
agency of the Holy Spirit, to sanctify and employ it as 
the chosen instrumentality by which to expel from the 
earth the evils produced by its perversion; till every 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


47 


man shall have once more become what he was primarily 
formed to be, an agent of unmingled good to every 
other man, and the world be restored to God. Without 
repealing or deranging any of the original relations or 
existing arrangements of nature, though they had all 
been perverted into means of destruction, a plan is 
superinduced which proposes to turn all those relations 
and arrangements to the highest account, as the means 
of his recovery; to make the chain of our mutual de¬ 
pendence once more fast to the throne of God. 

The seat of that plan was the bosom of God: the 
essence of that plan was, that the highest influence in 
the universe should be embodied and brought to bear 
on us ; an influence emanating from Him who con¬ 
centrates all the energies of the universe in himself; 
an influence streaming from the open heart of infinite 
love should discharge its power on the heart of the 
world. The obstacle to that plan lay in the apparent 
impossibility of reconciling such benevolence with the 
known and necessary hostility of God against sin ; of 
exercising such restorative influence on man, without 
relaxing general obligation, and thus diffusing a dis¬ 
organizing influence through the universe at large. 
But the organ and agent of that plan came forth from 
his bosom, equal to all its conditions, and bent on its 
fulfilment. And the glory of that plan consists in 
this, that the greatest apparent obstacle was made the 
occasion of its greatest triumph; that the same act 
which made it consistent for God to be gracious to 
man, made it impossible for man, when duly ac¬ 
quainted, and divinely impressed with it, to resist 
its attractive and subduing power. Around that plan 
the purposes of mercy had from eternity revolved. 
Its earliest announcement in Eden, though only con¬ 
veyed as an obscure intimation, touched every spring 
of hope in human nature, and left an ineffaceable 
moral impression on the mind of the world. The 
mere anticipation of that coming fact, had the effect, 
for ages, wherever it was duly cherished, of trans- 


48 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


forming human hearts, and of bearing them on into 
the presence of God. And when at length the time 
for its fulfilment came, with the prospect of its grand 
results swelling and bursting his heart of love it was, 
that the Saviour uttered the sublime prediction, “Now 
shall the prince of this world be cast out; and I, 
if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto me.” As if he had said, “ The central power of 
the earth is a demon. I look for his throne, and find 
it in the midst of the world. There, where should 
have stood the throne of God, stands c Satan’s seat; ’ 
while in his hand are all the influences of earth, and 
at his feet all its prostrate homage. But there shall 
stand my Cross. Casting him out, I will become the 
centre of the recovered world. Those human passions 
shall burn for me. Those countless idolaters shall 
bow to me. And all this will I do, not by force, but 
by influence alone. No single principle of human 
nature will I violate. Placing myself in harmony with 
them all, I will embody every element of influence, 
and engage every holy agency in the universe. All 
evil influences have conspired; all good shall combine 
to oppose them. My benevolence can find employment 
for all. Man’s depravity and danger require them 
all. None shall be absent. But, chiefly, thou, Eternal 
Spirit, my object requires that thou shouldst come to 
conduct and to give efficiency to the whole.” 

Thus the Saviour proposed to recover that principle 
of mutual dependence and influence by which sin was 
dragging the world to perdition, and to employ it as a 
golden chain for drawing all men to himself. 

Now, could we stay to analyze the elements of the 
character and work of Christ, as they relate to man , 
we should find that each of them was studiously adapt¬ 
ed to act on the human mind as an element of influ¬ 
ence ; and the more minutely we could examine them, 
the more should we see to admire in their exquisite 
adaptation and attractive power. Dignity is influence ; 
and he demonstrated to our conviction that he was 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


49 


the Son of God. Identity of nature is influence; 
and he became u bone of our bone, and flesh of our 
flesh.” Contiguity is influence; and he came ' and 
dwelt amongst us. Relationship is influence; and so 
far from dissolving existing relationships, he actually 
instituted a new one; he became a man ! Instead of 
moving away farther from us, as our guilt deserved, 
he came nearer, came with all the fulness of the God¬ 
head to be one of ourselves; came to demonstrate 
before our eyes, how much a God can love, a Saviour 
suffer, a Spirit effect, in order to our salvation. Cha¬ 
racter is influence; he saw that as mind rules matter, 
character rules mind itself, draws other minds into 
sympathy with it, imparts new impulses to society, 
speaks with a voice heard by distant nations, and which 
goes down to future ages. He saw, therefore, that 
when his character should come to be truly known ;— 
known for his unconquerable devotedness to the cause 
of God and man, in having borne down by a course 
of unexampled self-denial the greatest obstacles in the 
universe ; made his way from heaven through the ranks 
of hell, into the midst of the world, and direct to a 
cross ;—known for his self-sacrificing benevolence, in 
having effected an unbroken descent from heights of 
glory no wing can scale, to depths of humiliation no line 
can fathom ;—known for having presented to a world 
which refused to live unto God, the amazing spectacle of 
a God living to it, turning his whole self into a sacrifice, 
compared with which nothing else would ever deserve 
the name;—known for the richness of his gifts, and 
the vastness of his design, as including the happiness 
without measure, of numbers without calculation, and 
for ages without end ;—all who should experimentally 
11 know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” would be 
penetrated and possessed with the effect, and would 
compass sea and land to propagate the report. 

He knew also that a Divine influence—the influence 
of the Spirit himself—would accompany and give it 
effect. He could foresee, indeed, that the recipients 

5 


50 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


of his grace, moved by the Spirit of truth, would 
throw all their sanctified human influences into the 
work of preaching it. But even they who would glory 
in it the loudest, and labor for it the most, would 
know but comparatively little of its excellence. 
Whereas the Infinite Spirit knows it perfectly; knows 
it as the basis of his own agency ; knows the central 
place which the cross occupies, as the means of atone¬ 
ment, in the councils of God, the influence which it 
exerts on every part of the Divine government, and 
the glory which it is destined to shed over the uni¬ 
verse ; and the Saviour saw, therefore, that the Spirit 
would invest it with a power over the human mind 
corresponding with its value and supreme importance ; 
and that so entirely would the whole economy be 
conducted, from first to last, by his agency, that it 
would be distinctly known as the dispensation of the 
Spirit. 

True, indeed, what would influence the human mind 
was not the only thing, was not the first thing which 
the Author of salvation had to provide. There was 
another mind to be consulted. There was the First, 
the Eternal Mind to be more than consulted, to be 
propitiated; for man had dared his judicial displeasure. 
Whatever adaptation, therefore, the gospel might seem 
to possess, it can contain no effectual remedy for man 
unless it be in perfect harmony with that Mind. But 
to find that even He approves it; that He who is 
himself the Infinite Reason, beholds in the satisfac¬ 
tion for sin which it provides a reason paramount to 
all law, a reason to which even justice bows, and before 
which it retires; that He who is himself absolute 
perfection should not only commend it as perfect in 
itself, but should actually employ it as his chosen 
instrument for restoring perfection to beings who had 
lost it; that all the laws of his moral government 
consent to it, and all the principles of his nature rejoice 
in it; is of itself sufficient to arm it with an arresting 
and attractive power. Now the Saviour knew this: 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


51 


he knew that the cross, as the medium of forgiveness, 
is the direct product of the Divine mind; that all the 
riches of the Divine nature are poured into it; that 
nothing in the treasury of the Divine resources would 
be deemed too costly to adorn it, in order to commend 
it to the world, and to ensure its acceptance. He 
could not doubt, therefore, that the cross which had 
moved God in his judicial capacity, will finally be 
made to move the world; that as it is the centre 
around which the purposes of mercy revolve, so all 
the affections of man will be gathered about it also ; 
that the very fact that God commends it would, when 
known, invest it with an unlimited sway over every 
renovated human heart. Yes, he had looked into the 
mind of man, and he saw that debased and embruted 
as sin had made us, there are still slumbering within 
us those great principles and powers originally meant to 
control our nature, and that he who should succeed in 
awakening them would obtain the mastery over the 
whole man. He saw that by suffering he should 
awaken its sympathies; that by suffering for us he 
should engage its gratitude ; that by suffering for sin., 
which he hated,— cc bearing our sins in his own body on 
the tree,”—he should be the means of awakening its 
astonishment and love; that by thus giving to it “a 
good hope,” he should be moving the very first prin¬ 
ciple of moral power. 

He was the maker of the mind, and knew all its 
mysterious laws and secret springs. That singular 
law which we call the principle of association, and 
which is to mind, in effect, what the law of attraction 
is to matter; drawing together ideas connected by 
common affinities, and repelling others having no such 
congeniality, was a law of his own appointment. And 
he saw how exquisitely the doctrine of the cross was 
adapted, resulting, as it does, from the first principles 
in the Divine nature, to touch and move the first 
principles in ours, and thus to become, through the 
agency of the Holy Spirit, a new principle of mental 


52 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


and moral association. But he knew that besides this, 
the human mind was constituted for the reception and 
enthronement of one central and ruling idea, the idea 
of God; that that idea in its purity and vigour has 
been lost from the mind; that in the absence of this 
primary principle, the mind is involved in moral con¬ 
fusion) and the passions perverted by an unlicensed 
association of ideas; and he saw that the cross, em¬ 
bodying, as it does, the essential compassion and love 
of God, was divinely calculated to restore order by 
obtaining ascendency, and to become the all-subordi¬ 
nating principle of the enlightened mind. Though 
w r e may not be able by an effort of our will to call 
up any one train of thought, we can, by the power 
of the will, select at pleasure any single thought in 
the succession, and dwell upon it with deep and pro¬ 
longed attention ; and he saw how eminently the cross 
is calculated to be that object; to rivet the attention, 
and engross the affections of the renewed mind. 

He saw that as every truth, intellectual, moral, and 
spiritual, is invested by the God of truth with an 
influence and a power corresponding with its peculiar 
nature and its importance; and that as spiritual truths 
are above and beyond all others, as relating to the 
spiritual and loftiest part of our nature; so the great 
truth of the world’s redemption—the very greatest 
for a sinful and ruined spirit—would only need to be 
proclaimed and put into Divine activity—to be brought 
by the Great Spirit into vital contact and combination 
with the heart of the world, in order to draw it with 
irresistible attraction to the Author of that truth. 
Mighty truths were extant before—truths which created 
other truths—which, wherever they were announced, 
quickened into activity the general mind, called forth 
the mental resources of a people, and went vibrating on 
through the universe. But a truth was wanting, fitted 
to receive the great power of God—to be “the power 
of God unto the salvation” of all who should believe 
it—a truth which should animate all other truths—shed 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


53 


a flood of light and a stimulating influence on original 
but neglected obligations, and thus be the means of 
renovating the world. And the Saviour knew that his 
atoning sacrifice was that great conservative truth. 
He knew that as no act terminates in itself, but tends 
to propogate an influence in obedience to its own laws, 
and commensurate with its own force—the event of his 
death for man’s redemption—the greatest of all acts— 
greater than creation—greater than any which God 
has yet accomplished—would necessarily carry with it 
an influence greater than the influence flowing from 
any preceding acts, and therefore calculated, under the 
dispensation of the Spirit, to master and control the 
whole. 

He saw that as no object in the universe exists 
alone—that as every thing is the centre of an influence 
which extends to all within its circle—so the Cross, 
including as it would the means of exciting that love 
which is the very principle of all holy activity—com¬ 
plicated as it was with all the interests of humanity, 
would become the centre of an influence, to which all 
other impulses would eventually yield obedience, and 
a centre of attraction around which all other objects 
would finally circulate—that the Cross of Calvary would 
become the polar power of the spiritual world, to 
which every heart would tremble and turn. 

He saw in the earnest expectation of the creature 
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, 
struggling to be delivered from the bondage of cor¬ 
ruption into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God, joined with the Divine adaptation of the Gospel 
to make that manifestation, and to effect that deliver¬ 
ance, a certain pledge of universal triumph. “For 
we know that the whole creation groaneth and tra- 
vaileth in pain together until now.” But with how 
much deeper an emphasis may it be said that He 
knows it ? To his omniscient eye the whole race was 
present. He marked the multitudes struggling against 
their fallen condition—carrying their desires beyond 

5* 


54 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


the limits of the present—yearning after a something 
undefined. Yes, he knew that his Gospel is the hope 
of mankind—that every sigh and struggle of the whole 
creation is an act of homage to the salvation he brought, 
and a guarantee that all men shall eventually be drawn 
to him. And beyond this; he knew that so delighted 
was the Father with his work of mediation, that this 
redeemed world would be made his property, that the 
hearts of his people would be his at will, and all their 
influences his to wield at pleasure. He knew that 
u for this cause he was to die, and rise, and revive, that 
he might be Lord of the whole.” And when, by anti¬ 
cipation he heard them saying, ct None of us liveth to 
himself; we are not our own ; for us to live is Christ 
when, looking onwards, he saw the Cross, in the hand 
of the Holy Spirit, attracting human hearts, combining 
human energies, turning every thing into influence, and all 
that influence into one channel; he exclaimed, u And I, if 
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” 

For u the joy which was thus set before him,” He— 
the Son of God— u endured the cross,” as the sacrifice 
for the world. Into that act, were put the heart of 
Christ, the love of God—and through it comes the 
mightiest influence of the Holy Spirit. That Cross is 
the shrine and medium of the whole. By becoming 
the instrument of human redemption, it acquires the 
right and the power to give motives to all actions, 
sanctions to all obligations, objects to all affections, 
a new nature to man, a new character to the world. 

IV. Here then is the Cross—here are the means for 
moving the world ; where is the agency or what is the 
plan, for working the mighty engine ? The Eternal 
Father has been moved by it to lift its author up far 
above all heavens—what is the mode by which, now, 
in his new and exalted capacity, he will draw the world 
in homage to his feet ? So powerfully does its in¬ 
fluence fall on the mind of God, as the means of moral 
compensation for sin, that he hath given all things into 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


55 


his hands—how is it to fall on the minds of men so 
as to induce them voluntarily to copy that divine ex¬ 
ample ? This is obviously the critical part of the great 
process. Oh, how important a theatre has earth be¬ 
come ! Every eye in the universe is bent on it. Here 
is to be fought out the grand struggle of evil with 
good—of hell with heaven. Here the influence of the 
Cross is to challenge and vanquish every other power; 
who is not anxious to know the plan of the contest ? 

This brings us to consider the scripture theory of 
Christian instrumentality for the conversion of the 
world. The early triumphs of the Gospel demon¬ 
strated that the influence of the Cross was not left to 
find its way through the world as it could—to operate 
at random. The plan which provided the influence of 
the Cross, provided also the method of its diffusion 
and propagation. And, on inspection, we shall find 
that plan so simple in its principle—so connected in 
its parts—so comprehensive in its outline—and so well 
adapted for efficiency and success, as to show that the 
wisdom which framed it was divine ; and that nothing 
but adherence to it is wanting in order to the conver¬ 
sion of the world. 

We have already shown, that, by the constitution 
of our nature, we are made to influence each other; 
that the perversion of that influence by sin, is the great 
secret and means of the world’s continued depravity ; 
that, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, the doc¬ 
trine of the Cross is the antagonist principle, the 
counter influence, by. which sin is to be vanquished 
and man restored. We may expect, therefore, that the 
instrumentality to be employed in the service of the 
Cross, will consist of influence also. And, accordingly, 
human influence, deriving its efficacy from heaven, is 
the specific instrumentality by which the Gospel pro¬ 
poses to propagate its transforming effects. 

But if so, it follows, of course, that such influence 
should be congenial with the character—the moral cha¬ 
racter—of the Cross, and be produced by it. For this 



56 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


sufficient reason, that every other influence is, in truth, 
opposed to the Gospel, and constitutes that which re¬ 
quires to be changed by it. The Cross stands alone 
in the world. It does not find friends, it makes them. 
If it wants an agency, it has to create it. If the iron 
is to attract, it must itself be magnetized. And if 
the Saviour proposes to employ human instrumentality 
for drawing all men unto him, he has first to magnetize 
that agency at the Cross, the great centre of moral 
attraction. 

1. But how shall the Gospel commence its operations 
on man— individually , or socially ? Civilization com¬ 
monly begins with man in his social capacity, by giving 
laws to a community; expecting that they will gra¬ 
dually impart their appropriate influence to each of its 
individual members. But Christianity contemplates 
man, in the first place, in his individual capacity. For, 
besides the fact of his personal responsibility to^God, 
his reception of it, as far as human authority is con¬ 
cerned, is perfectly voluntary. The Gospel, therefore, 
proceeds on the supposition that only a single member 
of a whole community may embrace it; and by ad¬ 
dressing men at first in their individual capacity, it 
saves that single member; whereas, had his salvation 
been suspended on the will of the community, it would 
have been made impossible, owing to their rejection of 
the Gospel. Besides which, Christianity proceeds on 
the supposition so often realized, that it may only have 
a solitary agent to convey its message to a whole com¬ 
munity ; and that in the midst of that community he 
may long labour single-handed and alone. It begins 
with the individual, therefore, that it may advance to 
the society. In order to the cohesion and polarity of 
the globe, every atom of which it is composed is, in 
its separate capacity, possessed of polarity and attrac¬ 
tion. And in order to the ultimate evangelization of 
the world, the Gospel operates, as it advances, on each 
of its component parts. 

And, here, be it carefully remarked, that the doc- 


STATED AND EXPLAINED, 


57 


trine of the Cross triumphs, not in the same way as 
other kinds of truth produce their results—by its jnere 
fitness to convince the judgment, and approve itself to 
the mind. We believe, indeed, that the Gospel has 
this fitness; that light is not more suited to the eye, 
than the entire system of evangelical truth is adapted 
to the original principles of human nature. And we 
believe that, owing to this inherent adaptation alone, 
the Gospel can produce the mightiest civil and social 
results, without the aid of any special supernatural 
influence. And we believe that, because of this in¬ 
herent adaptation, it is that God employs it to produce 
the great spiritual result of regeneration. But, then, 
we believe that in the production of this result, its 
mere adaptation alone would leave it quite impotent; 
that here it encounters a kind and a degree of resist¬ 
ance which renders a Divine Agency indispensable ; 
that here the influence of the Spirit comes into opera¬ 
tion; and that on this account it is called u the power 
of God,” because God alone renders it powerful to 
salvation. Hence, also, “faith” is termed “the gift 
of God.” And God is represented as “ opening the 
heart to receive the word.” Still, the Spirit of God 
is pleased to produce the effect through the medium of 
the truth; and hence the Apo'stle Peter represents 
Christians as those who “ have purified their souls in 
obeying the truth through the Spirit.” Most impres¬ 
sively, too, is the same combination implied in the 
command of Christ “to hear what the Spirit saith;” 
although he himself was the speaker. Reminding us 
that this is emphatically the dispensation of the Third 
Person in the Glorious Trinity; that every voice in 
the church—even the voice of Christ himself—is in a 
sense subordinate to the Spirit, and can be heard with 
salutary effect only as the Spirit repeats it, and conveys 
it into the soul. 

Now, in attempting to describe its transforming 
power on the human heart, it is somewhat disheart¬ 
ening to reflect that we are most likely addressing 


58 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


those to whom the subject has become comparatively 
trite, and almost every mode of presenting it, perfectly 
familiar. The very facility with which the under¬ 
standing apprehends our meaning, and the readiness 
with which the judgment admits it, allows no time for 
the sublime truth to settle down upon the heart. In 
order, therefore, to do anything like justice to the 
subject, it is necessary that the individual supposed to 
be subjected to the influence in question should be 
taken, not from among ourselves, but from a region 
where the power and even the name of the Gospel is 
unknown. Christianity is the only successful anta¬ 
gonist which sin has ever encountered; in order, there¬ 
fore, to exhibit its influence fully, he should be taken 
from the darkness and distance of nature, where sin 
had operated on him unchecked, working out all its 
deadly effects, and reducing him to its dreadful pur¬ 
poses ; and he should be brought with all his depravity 
and guilt upon him into the full light, and under the 
direct power, of the Gospel. 

Now in this stale, he is chiefly assailable at three 
points. Fortified in evil, as he may appear to be, 
there are yet three sides, so to speak, on which he 
may be approached, by the Spirit of truth, with irre¬ 
sistible effect—his immortality, his guilt, and his in¬ 
finite danger. These are subjects relating to parts and 
principles of his nature which an abandoned world 
overlooks—it has little or nothing by which it can 
appeal to them if it would—and yet they lie at the 
very foundation of his constitution, so that whoever 
shall succeed in making him sensible of his immor¬ 
tality, in alarming his conscience to the danger to 
which all that immortality is exposed by sin, and then 
in delivering him from the whole, will necessarily ac¬ 
quire a master influence over his whole nature forever. 
Now the Gospel does this. It does not affect a part 
of his nature merely. It does not operate superficially 
on the senses ; nor convince his judgment, and leave 
his heart uninterested; nor move his passions merely, 


I 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


59 


to the neglect of his judgment and his will. It goes 
in, and down, to the depths of his nature. It goes 
directly to move that which moves the whole man. 

The world hides a man from himself—conceals from 
him the most important part of his nature. By shut¬ 
ting out the prospect of eternity, he loses sight of his 
immortality ; and by constantly appealing to his senses, 
and thus keeping in exercise only the inferior parts of 
his nature, he tends to settle down into a mere creature 
of time. But the first effect, perhaps, which the Gospel 
produces is to reveal him to himself. By coming to 
him as a message from another world, he starts into a 
consciousness of his relation to that world—and by 
addressing itself to the spiritual part of his nature, he 
becomes sensible, however vaguely at first, that he is 
in some way related to the spiritual, the infinite, and 
the eternal. Now it is obvious, how this very first 
impression, by throwing open a part of the temple of 
his nature which had been hitherto shut up—the very 
sanctuary, containing the symbol of divinity—prepares 
him to receive with deep effect, every other commu¬ 
nication which may come to him from the same 
quarter. 

Not only does the world conceal from a man his 
spiritual and immortal nature—by allowing it to fall 
into disuse, it tends also to merge the fact of his in¬ 
dividual accountableness—his distinct personal respon¬ 
sibility. From living in society, and finding his in¬ 
terests and relations inseperably complicated with those 
of others, he comes to think of himself only as an un- 
distinguishable part of a great whole. He loses himself 
in the crowd. But the Gospel individualizes and 
detaches. It tells him of a law by which all the laws 
of society are themselves to be judged, but of which 
his life has been an unbroken violation—of a book in 
which his personal history is recorded moment by 
moment—of a Being who can disentangle and detach 
him from all his complicated relations, and assign to 
his every thought and word its precise character—and 


60 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


of a place and a punishment so exactly and necessarily 
resulting from his guilt and proportioned to it, that he 
is the only being in the universe to whom they could 
be assigned. The .only way, therefore, in which it 
can treat with him is in person. It lays its awakening 
and arresting hand on his personal conscience. It de¬ 
mands a personal interview—a conference in the centre 
of his nature. It brings forward his guilt into the 
strong light of distinct consciousness. Even if the 
Gospel allowed him to act by another, his own con¬ 
science is now too deeply interested to permit it. All 
his faculties and powers seem collected into a point— 
the entire soul becomes conscience, and that con¬ 
science is against him—accuser, witness, and judge. 
As if the judgment had been set and the books 
opened, as if his personal case had been adjudged, 
his doom pronounced, and he himself suspended over 
the bottomless gulf, he feels that he is lost. His 
nature is now stirred to its depths, and his soul is one 
region of alarm. Mere sympathy now will receive his 
deep, deep gratitude; deliverance would secure his 
heart for ever. The Being who shall now arrive to 
his rescue, will infallibly acquire an influence over the 
whole man, and may calculate on his allegiance for ever. 

To ask if the world, or any person or power belong¬ 
ing to it, can extend the aid which the crisis demands, 
would be sheer impertinence. That is the very power 
which has brought on the crisis, and from which he 
requires to be rescued. So completely is he now de¬ 
tached from it in heart and hope, that he turns round 
and looks back on it, with wonder at its infatuation, 
aversion for its sins, and yearning pity for its state. 
The cloud which threatens him with its bolt, impends 
also over it. What must he u do to be saved ?” 

In the absence of all the objects he has been accus¬ 
tomed to confide in ; in the clear and open space which 
their withdrawment has left around him, behold the 
Cross ! All the forms of terror, and ministers of justice 
which his sins had armed against him, blend and melt 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


61 


into a form of love dying for his rescue. The Cross 
has received the lightnings of the impending cloud, 
and has painted upon it the bow of hope. To his 
anxious inquiry, u What he must do to be saved ?” 
The Cross echoes back, be saved , and every object 
around him joyfully repeats, be saved. Then God is 
love ! and the Cross is the stupendous expedient by 
which he harmonizes that love with the rectitude of his 
government! Then the sinner need not perish! and 
this is the amazing means of his salvation ! Had it 
ever been his lot to gaze on the appalling spectacle of 
an ordinary crucifixion, the sight would probably have 
left an image on his mind never to be effaced. Is it 
possible, then, that he can behold “Jesus Christ, evi¬ 
dently set forth crucified before his eyes;” that he can 
know the dignity of the sufferer, as God manifest in 
the flesh; can believe that he hates the sin as deeply 
as he loves the sinner; can reflect that the effect of 
his death is to be his own deliverance; and can look 
into the heart of this great mystery and find it to 
be love , without experiencing a change ? If every 
word which he hears spoken even by a fellow man, 
leaves some impression on his mind, can he hear that 
he is saved, and believe that the voice which assures 
him of salvation is the voice of God, without feeling 
it thrill through every faculty of the soul ? If every 
object and event he may witness, produces some effect 
on his character—is it possible that the event which 
is to affect his whole being for ever—which for him 
shuts for ever the gate of hell, and throws open and 
fills with visions of glory the ample spaces of eternity, 
should produce only a transient and slender impression ? 
Must he not, by necessity of nature, love him, without 
whom he would soon have had nothing in the universe 
to love, but have been eternally hateful even to him¬ 
self ? Must he not render obedience to him, without 
whom the chains of his slavery would soon have been 
riveted for ever ? He waits not for a reply ; he needs 
not a command. He is under the mastery of a prin- 


62 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


ciple which is its own law—a principle of boundless 
gratitude and love. The power of the Cross has moved 
the primary forces of his nature—the mysterious springs 
of Hope and Fear, of Adoration and Love. The world 
has lost him. His heart is at the feet of Christ. He 
dates life and happiness from the transition. Hence¬ 
forth he moves in a region of which the Cross is the 
central object, and where the benignant and attractive 
influences which stream from it in all directions, hold 
him in willing and delighted allegiance. 

Here, then, is the secret of that supreme influence 
which the Gospel exercises over the man whom the 
world had debased and sin had ruined; and this is the 
line of truth along which the Spirit of God delights 
to operate. By acquainting him with his immortality, 
it, in effect, gives him a soul, and gives it on the 
threshold of a new and eternal world. By acquaint¬ 
ing him w r ith his responsibility and guilt, it calls his 
conscience from the dead; and by unveiling to him the 
mystery of the Cross, by which that guilt is cancelled, 
and that immortality entitled to heaven, one over¬ 
powering sentiment subjects his whole nature to the 
authority of Christ. The Spirit has taken of the things of 
Christ, and has shown them to him with so transforming 
an effect, that he is £C a new creature in Christ Jesus.” 

We are to suppose, then, that the Gospel has, in 
this way, won its first convert; that the transform¬ 
ing effects which the Saviour ascribed to his being 
lifted up from the earth, have taken place upon him. 
Here is a man imbued with the siprit of the Cross, 
and ready to sacrifice life in its service—how is he to 
be employed ? He is not to live to himself; for by 
the sentence of a law which has gone forth from the 
Cross, he who lives to himself is not a Christian. He 
has not been u created anew in Christ Jesus” for mere 
self-enjoyment or idle show—that the act might ter¬ 
minate in itself. Every thing in nature exists for a 
purpose. Even the atom of the rock has its appointed 
place, and its definite end. Surely man—and, of all 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


63 


men, the Christian—is not exempt from this law ! 
what then, is his destiny ? 

Here is evidently a fitting agent for Christ to employ. 
No other being in the universe has the shadow of a 
claim to him, beyond that which his new proprietor 
may choose to grant. Every part and property of his 
nature, and every moment of his future existence, have 
been bought—paid for with u precious blood.” And 
as the new interest to which he is pledged is opposed 
by every other, he cannot yield to any other claimant, 
even for a moment, without lending himself, during 
that moment, to a hostile party; so that he has no 
alternative but that of devoting himself unreservedly 
to Christ. Accordingly, the Saviour claims him for 
himself. From the moment he felt the power of the 
Cross, his duty became definite, imperitive, one. If 
every other member of the human family were aban¬ 
doned to live without control—if the sun itself were 
abandoned to wander through infinite space —his course 
would yet be minutely prescribed. As if he alone held 
the great secret of the Cross, and were consequently 
the most important being on the face of the earth, his 
every moment is charged with an appointed duty. As 
if he had been recalled from the state of death; yes, 
not merely as if he had been called out of nothingness 
into existence—not merely as if he had been selected 
and sent down from the ranks of the blessed above— 
but with stronger motives still, as if his guilty soul 
had been recalled from perdition where the undoing 
worm had found him, and the unquenchable flame had 
enwrapped him, and his dissolved body recalled from 
the dust of death—and as if he had literally come 
out of the tomb with Christ, and had received life and 
salvation together at the mouth of the sepulchre, at 
the hand of Christ—all his new-found powers are to be 
held by him as a precious trust for the service of Christ. 
As if he had come forth from the sepulchre at first 
with life only—and as if his reason, knowledge, affec¬ 
tions, speech, property, had there been restored to him 


64 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


separately, and in succession, with a distinct intimation 
accompanying each, that he received it back for Christ, 
he is to look on himself, henceforth, as a part of the 
Cross, as taken up into the great designs of Christ— 
as bound up for life and death in his plans of mercy. 
His character is to be a reproduction of the character of 
Christ. The disinterestedness which appeared in Christ, 
is to reappear in him. The tenderness of Christ—his 
untold solicitude for human souls, is to live over again 
in his tones of entreaty, his wrestling prayer for their 
salvation. The blood of the Cross itself, is, in a sense 
to stream forth again, in his tears of anguish, his volun¬ 
tary and vicarious self-sacrifice to draw men to Christ. 
And if tempted to lend but a particle of his influence 
to any other claimant than Christ, his reply is at hand, 
U I am not my own, I am Christ’s. He has put it out 
of my power to give him more than belongs to him, 
for he has purchased and challenges the whole through 
every moment of time; and out of my will to give him 
less, for if I know any grief it is that my all should 
so inadequately express my sense of obligation.” 

2. Now all this necessarily invests the new convert 
with influence; and with influence of the same kind 
as that which instrumentally drew him to Christ— 
influence already felt, perhaps, in inferior degrees by 
many around him; and accordingly, we are to suppose 
that, under God, he becomes the means of drawing 
some of these to Christ. Now as union is strength, 
would it not be desirable that he and they should be 
organized into a society for the purpose of combining 
and diflusing their influence farther still ? Here, then, 
is the next step in the theory of Christian influence— 
the formation of individual Christians into a Church. 
The primary design of a Church, indeed, is the spiritual 
benefit of the members composing it; that each might 
enjoy the assistance of all; that the Christian prin¬ 
ciples and graces of the whole community might be 
collected and concentrated into a focus, and each be¬ 
liever might stand at pleasure under its salutary and 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


65 


transforming influence ; that scope might be afforded 
for the exercise of sympathy, and forbearance, and holy 
emulation; that each might feel his weakness sup¬ 
ported, and- his courage animated, by the presence of 
the whole—feel, that although he is u the least of all 
saints,” he is a vital member of an organized body, 
allied to Christ, the living Head, and, through Him, 
identified with all the excellence in the universe. 

But the great ulterior object of forming them into 
a Church, is the increase of their usefulness to the 
world; and hence it is that every increase of their own 
prosperity is so much increase of their capacity for 
usefulness. In other words, in the formation and 
design of this church, we behold that principle of 
mutual dependence and reciprocal influence, which sin 
had perverted into the means of the world’s destruction, 
recovering its original value as the means of the world’s 
regeneration; for here, “the communion of the saints,” 
by heightening their piety, quickening their activity, 
and combining their resources, increases their fitness 
for the world’s conversion. 

As a Church, the mere circumstance of their separa¬ 
tion from the world, is, of itself, sufficient to attract 
attention. Their number invests them with com¬ 
parative importance. Their formation into a visible 
society, raises them into the rank of a distinct power. 
If we wish to render an object conspicuous, we detach 
it from surrounding objects, and place it apart; and 
if we wish to make it still more conspicuous, we in¬ 
crease it, multiply it to the utmost. The light of the 
sun is composed of particles inconceivably minute, 
which, taken separately, and placed at a distance from 
each other, would be lost in darkness; but collected 
into that glorious orb, it attracts the eyes of ten thou¬ 
sand worlds, and becomes an image of the glory of God 
himself. Believers are to shine' as lights in the world ; 
but this end they answer best, when their radiance is 
collected into the orb of a Christian Church. 

As a Church, they are raised into an independ- 
6 * 


66 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


ence of the world; and thus furnish mankind with 
a standing representation of another world ; of other 
laws than earth obeys; and of a higher order of enjoy¬ 
ment and power than man possesses, derived from a 
source superior to all created means. Its union to 
him, and oneness with him, make it independent of all 
the universe besides. 

As a Church, they are to acquire and wield an 
influence of a character essentially distinct from that 
of all around, and incomparably superior to it. What¬ 
ever the moral state of the world may be, their 
fitness to improve it will depend, under God, on the 
breadth and distinctness of the line of demarcation 
which separates them from it, and on the perfection 
of contrast to the world which they exhibit. The 
world, for instance, is selfish, acts without refer¬ 
ence to a Supreme will, and constitutes itself the end 
of all it does. How important, then, that they should 
embody the self-sacrificing spirit of Christ! To do this 
by halves only, to study their own aggrandizement, or 
to live in comparative indolence and luxury, would be 
to symbolize with the world, and to confirm it in its 
besetting sin. But they are to exhibit that fiction of 
the world—a life of self-denial. By relinquishing all 
delights, all passions, all pursuits, by which the world 
is engrossed and enslaved ; and by going out of them¬ 
selves, abandoning themselves, evincing a readiness to 
sacrifice life itself in the cause of Christ, they are to 
stand out in vivid contrast with the selfishness of the 
world, silently to condemn it, to proclaim a will higher 
than human, the responsibility of men to that will 
and the supreme happiness of absolute conformity to 
it. And thus they are to prepare men to hear with 
effect of that sacrifice compared with which nothing 
else can ever deserve the name. 

The world is sensual, supremely influenced by the 
visible and the present. The constancy and force with 
which the human body gravitates to the earth is only 
an emblem of the manner in which the universal heart 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


67 


of man tends to the concerns and objects of the world. 
But the members of this new society are to come out 
from the w r orld and to “be separate;” “to love not 
the world,*nor the things of the world;” “to set their 
affections on things above.” The Cross is to them the 
perpetual memorial of a nobler world, the representative 
of the most glorious being there, and the medium of 
constant communication with it. As if they were daily 
standing in the open portal of that celestial state, and 
surveying the glories within, they are to evince a de¬ 
cided superiority to all the objects of worldly pursuit. 
And as if they were empowered to take others with 
them there, and were only waiting here till they had 
succeeded, they are to move among them as men not 
of this world ; angels partly on the wing. 

Now this twofold principle of worldly selfishness or 
selfish sensuality, is the ruling principle of man and 
the essence of his guilt. How important, then, that 
the Christian Church should stand out from the world 
in bold and bright relief, as the representative of the 
pure and unworldly benevolence of the Cross. 

As a Church, the faithful are intrusted with means 
eminently calculated to affect and benefit the world 
around. They possess the ministry of reconciliation— 
and of what use is that but to u beseech men to be 
reconciled to God ?” They are encouraged to pray, 
as a church, by a promise of divine success greater 
than any which is guaranteed to their separate and 
solitary requests. “If two of you shall agree on earth 
as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be 
done for them of my Father who is in heaven. For 
where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them.” We are assured 
that in reclaiming the sinner, “the effectual fervent 
prayer” of even one of the faithful “availeth much.” 
But here is a promise made to the united prayer of 
the Church, over and above that which is made to 
private devotion ; and a power conferred on it greater 
than that which is promised to all its members praying 
separately. 


68 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


As a Church, they have a special sphere of labour. 
However small the circle of Christian influence which 
each one separately filled before, from the moment 
they constitute a Church, the hand that so formed them 
may be regarded as drawing around them a circle which 
includes “the region round about.” As a church, 
they are now charged with a collective responsibility; 
all the souls within that circle are in a measure 
given into their hands. And hence all their means— 
the mite of the widow and the wealth of the affluent, 
the leisure of one and the learning of another, the 
ardour of the young, the wisdom of the aged, the 

resources of all, are to be combined and devoted to 

✓ 

the object of saving them. Here, the motto of each 
is to be, “None of us liveth to himself;”—each one 
is assigned a post of labour; the influence of each, 
by union with all, is made to be felt; and as often as 
others are added to them, they are to regard the circle 
as proportionally enlarged, and are again to fill it to 
the circumference with the influence of the Cross. 

3. In this way ether churches are supposed to be 
planted. Each of these becomes the centre of a new 
circumference. Every place to which its influence 
reaches, is to be a point for extending it farther still. 
Bursting the limits of neighbourhood, and the confines 
of country, they are to carry the Cross into other 
lands, there to rally around it other hearts, and thus 
to obtain the means of farther conquests still. Now, 
if the influence of the first converts was augmented 
by collecting them into one compact society, would it 
not proportionally augment the influence of these 
several societies, if they were all sympathetically 
united, and visibly to co-operate as one Church ? 
True, the obstacles are great, the sources of disunion 
and division many: but so much the greater the 
influence which would arise from the spectacle of their 
union. For in that event, their union would be their 
strength, not only by increasing their actual resources, 
but also by evincing to the world the surpassing power 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


C9 


of that principle which could thus harmonize their 
jarring natures, and fuse all their hearts and interests 
into one. 

Now this, we know, is the third step in the Scripture 
theory of Christian instrumentality for the conversion 
of the world. So essential a part of the theory is 
this, that the Saviour more than commanded, he prayed 
for it; prayed for it at the foot of the cross; prayed 
for it there as a means of the world’s conversion— 
u That they all may be one # * * * that the world 
may believe that thou hast sent me.” The reason of 
their union as a whole, is one of the very reasons of 
their existence at all—the conversion of the world. 
Diversified as they are in mind, country, condition, age, 
one subject of emulation is to displace every other—- 
who shall do most for the diffusion of that love which 
draws them to the Cross, and which there binds them 
to each other ? Zeal is to come from one part of the 
church, to be directed by Wisdom from another part. 
Here, agents of mercy are sent forth; and, there, they 
are met by funds for their support. The conviction 
that in every enterprise of benevolence they carry 
with them the sympathies and prayers of the Church, 
keeps them, on the one hand, from the thought of 
declining, and puts them, on the other, on deeds of 
heroism in the cause of God which call forth the glad 
applauses of Heaven. Such a union of love in a selfish 
world could not fail to arrest the public eye ; and to 
assail and affect the public heart. But not long would 
the world be left to speculate and wonder about it. 
They would find that the Church had united for an 
object—that that object was their conversion—that they 
were actually beleaguered and assailed in every form, 
and on every side, by the united and irresistible forces 
of Christian love. Thus, while within itself, the Church 
presents the attractive and glorious spectacle of a uni¬ 
versal feast of love; in relation to those without, it is 
to present one scene of spiritual enterprise and com¬ 
merce, carried on for the advantage of the world at 


70 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


large, and visible to the universe. Convinced that such 
a union of love in a selfish world could be only resolved 
into a heavenly cause, mankind would be the more 
prepared to recognize the divinity of the Saviour’s 
claims, and gratefully to capitulate to his offered 
grace. 

4. But now comes the last step—the crowning influ¬ 
ence—that without which all the other parts of the theory 
are useless —the effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the 
whole. His presence, indeed, is, as has been already 
remarked, essential , and is taken for granted, in the 
renovation of each individual heart, and in the for¬ 
mation of every separate Church. In the scheme of 
salvation, every instrument and agent has its appro¬ 
priate place, and its appointed order of succession. In 
that arrangement, the Spirit is the prime mover of 
the whole. But his full impartation is reserved for 
the combination of the whole. Mightily as that spec¬ 
tacle of Christian union is calculated to tell on the 
sinful influences of earth, as mightily as is it to tell, in 
another respect, on the divine influences of heaven. 
It is to draw down the very source of influence himself. 
“For there is one body and one Spirit”—an entire 
body for an entire spirit. Having drawn them to 
one centre, and there united them in one object, that 

he might exhibit and employ them in one body, he is 

then to animate and inhabit them as the one soul of 

the whole. It is then to appear that their union is 

cemented, not only by him, but for him; for only let 
that union be complete, and forthwith he will be seen 
impelling the entire body of the faithful to one un¬ 
divided effort for the conversion of the world—his 
sword the weapon they employ—his inspiration ani¬ 
mating them to the fight—his unmeasured power, as 
the great Missionary Spirit of the Church, convincing 
the world of sin, and as the Glorifier of Jesus, crown¬ 
ing their instrumentality with complete success. 

Here then we behold an answer to the question 
which we lately proposed—Where is the agency, and 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


71 


what is the plan, for drawing the world to the Cross ? 
Here is an agency organized expressly for this, and 
useful for nothing else. Here, if we briefly examine, 
we shall find that every element at work, is an element 
of influence in harmony with the Cross, and subordi¬ 
nate to it. The same agencies, which, in the world, 
operate against the Cross, will here be found to operate 
for it; and other agencies, of which the world knows 
nothing, are here called into existence, and added to 
them. 

Knoivleclge is a means of usefulness —“is power.” 
“ There is no power on earth,” said the great man who 
originated that proverb, “ which setteth up a throne, 
or chair of state, in the spirits and souls of men, but 
knowledge.” He who is the discoverer or sole pos¬ 
sessor of a moral truth, has it in his power to exercise a 
sovereignty which approaches nearer than any other to 
the likeness of the divine rule. Not only is he stronger 
than any other man, or than any given number of men, 
but stronger than all the race together. Now the Chris¬ 
tian has had disclosed to him the doctrine of the Cross. 
His hand is on a lever which can move the world— 
on the lever which shall move it—and his hand is there 
that instrumentally he may attempt to move it. Moses, 
descending radient from divine communion, in the 
mount;—the High Priest reappearing from within 
the mysterious veil ;—Isaiah, fresh from the visions 
of the Lord, never returned to the waiting and 
breathless people with a burden so precious—a truth 
so great—as that which he holds. It is that from 
which all other truths derive their force; it comes 
“not in word only, but in power;” it is, emphatically, 
“the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth.” It enables him to give back the world to 
God; and, by unveiling the Great Propitiation, to 
contribute towards giving back to God a world. 

Speech is a means of influence. It is the great 
instrument for the interchange of thought and feeling. 
The thoughts of a community are by this means kept 


72 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


in perpetual circulation, and the long cherished sen¬ 
timent of a private individual is propagated till it 
acquires the force and universality of a law, and “sets 
on fire the whole course of nature.” To say nothing 
of the power of public oratory, the simplest conversa¬ 
tion has an effect on the minds of those who engage 
in it, regulated by laws as certain as those which direct 
the lightning in its course. So that never do we come 
out from such intercourse the same persons as we 
entered. The most casual remark lives for ever in its 
effects. There is not a word which has not a moral 
history. Hence the Satanic art of calling all evil 
things by harmless names; and hence it is, too, that 
every “idle word” which men utter, assumes a cha¬ 
racter so important, that it will be made a subject of 
inquest in the general judgment. 

But the Christian is taught to regard the faculty 
of speech as a vehicle and means of grace. If the 
noblest use of his reason be to know God, the highest 
employment of his speech must be to impart that 
knowledge; and the highest knowledge of Him which 
he can impart is surely that for which Christ himself 
assumed the power of human speech, and to the 
announcement of which he devoted it. In the Church, 
language is promoted into the grand ordinance of 
preaching Christ. Whoever his audience may be, 
the Christian is to “minister grace to the hearers.” 
Even when he is not conversing on grace, his speech 
is to be “always with grace;” in harmony with his 
religious character, and favourable to a hallowed 
impression. Like the narrative and incidental parts 
of Scripture, it is to illustrate and subserve the 
sacred and saving tendency of the whole. In the 
salvation of the Cross, the Gospel has supplied him 
with a theme of which his heart is supposed to be 
full; and “he cannot but speak the things which 
he has heard and seen.” Every man he meets is 
interested in it as deeply as himself. Every indivi¬ 
dual he addresses may be perishing through want of 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


73 


it. Every conversation lie holds with others, affords 
him an opportunity of introducing it. Every word 
he has to utter concerning it, is “good news.” Un¬ 
less he speak, they may die in ignorance of it:— 
and he is held conditionally responsible for every word 
he might have uttered, but omitted ; and for every 
soul that perishes through that neglect. u He be¬ 
lieves, and therefore speaks.” As if his lips had 
been touched with sacred fire, or sprinkled with 
consecrating blood, he is to stand in the midst of his 
circle as the oracle of the Cross. His words are no 
longer his own ; as if his were the tongue of Christ 
himself, or the only tongue on earth that could 
testify of the wonders of the Cross, he is to regard 
himself as set apart to bear witness of Christ. And 
as it is his office, so it is to be his holy ambition, so 
to announce and make him known, that at the close 
of life, and even of each day of life, he may be able to 
say as Christ himself appealed to the Father, and said, 
though in an inferior sense, “I have declared unto 
them thy name, and will declare it.” 

Relationship , ivhether natural or acquired , is a 
means of usefulness. The parent, for instance, pos¬ 
sesses an influence over his offspring, more powerful 
than the mightiest monarch ever swayed over his 
subjects. His voice is the first music they hear; 
his smiles their bliss; his authority, the image and 
substitute of the Divine authority. So absolute is the 
law which impels them to believe his every word, to 
imitate his every tone, gesture, and action, and to 
receive the ineffaceable impression of his character, 
that his every movement drops a seed into the virgin 
soil of their hearts to germinate there for eternity. 
His influence, by blending itself with their earliest 
conceptions, and incorporating with the very elements of 
their constitution, and by the constancy, subtlety, variety, 
and power of its operation, gives him a command over 
their character and destiny, which renders it the most ap¬ 
propriate emblem on earth of the influence of God himself, 

7 


74 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


Now there is not a member of the human family who 
does not sustain some relation, original or acquired, 
public or private, permanent or temporary—nor is 
there any relation which does not invest the person 
sustaining it with some degree of influence. The 
particle of dust which we heedlessly tread beneath 
our foot, propagates its influence beyond the remotest 
planet, and is felt through all space. And though a 
man may be apparently standing on the outermost 
verge of the social system, he forms a vital link in 
the great chain of dependence which runs through 
the universe, linking man to man, age to age, and 
world to world. The connexion, indeed, may not be 
visible to us to any great distance; yet does it exist 
as really as if he found himself standing in the centre 
of the universe, with visible lines of relation drawn 
from himself to every one of the congregated myriads ; 
nor is it possible to detach him from the mighty 
whole. And,—what is of importance to remark,— 
not only is there no relation of life which does not 
invest the person sustaining it with some degree of 
influence, but which does not afford him the power 
of exerting an influence in it which no other being on 
earth possesses. 

Here, then, is an important talent which the Christ¬ 
ian is supposed to occupy for Christ. As if the 
relations which he sustains had been appointed now 
for the first time, and appointed expressly to give 
him a sphere of Christian influence, he is to hold 
them chiefly for Christ : And, indeed, for what but 
holy purposes were the primary and principal relations 
of life designed at ffirst ? For iC did he not make 
one ? yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And 
wherefore one ? That he might seek a godly seed.” 
So that in holding his relationships for Christ, the 
renewed man is but restoring them to the purpose 
from which sin has dissevered them. Is he a parent ? 
u The promise is unto him and to his children.” As 
he is related to the first Adam, they receive from 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


75 


him nothing but an inheritance of guilt, degradation, 
and death; but as related to the second, he is to 
aim to cut off the dreadful entail, and to train them 
to be sons-and daughters of the Lord Almighty. As 
if they had been sent down to him in angel arms 
from heaven with a divine command to train them 
for Christ. He is to radiate on them nothing but 
hallowed influence. Their first lispings are to be of 
Christ; their first imaginings of his love; and their 
earliest steps to his footstool. The influence of his 
Christian character is to surround them like the at¬ 
mosphere of a temple: that by being breathed and 
mingled with their earliest being, it may become an 
elementary part of their character. As if they had 
been sent to him expressly with a divine charge to 
illustrate before the world the power and excellence 
of Christian influence, he is to set himself apart to 
the grand experiment of ascertaining the greatest 
amount of good which sanctified parental agency is 
calculated to effect; how completely it can sever and 
secure them from all counter agencies; how early it 
can affect them ; and how devoted and useful it can 
render them as instruments for propagating the same 
influence among others. In this way he is to illus¬ 
trate the tremendous operation of sin in having per¬ 
verted a relationship meant for the transmission of 
nothing but good into a channel for the discharge of 
an ever-swelling flood of destruction; and the tran¬ 
scendent influence of the Cross, which, like the tree 
of Marah, tends to medicate its fatal bitterness, and 
to turn it into a stream of salvation. 

But whatever the relations which he sustains to 
others, he is to regard the influence resulting from it 
as a cord for drawing them ,to Christ. There is a 
sense, indeed, in which he stands related to the whole 
race. The Cross vibrates to the sounds of human 
misery in every part of the earth, and his heart is to 
thrill in sympathy with it. As the representative of 
Christ, he is to regard himself as the centre of all 


76 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


that misery; but as his Christian duties lie around 
him in concentric circles, and as the first circle in¬ 
cludes those most nearly related to him, nothing will 
excuse him for neglecting an inner for an outer, be¬ 
cause a larger circle. In the day of final account, 
the first subject of inquiry, after that of his own per¬ 
sonal piety, will relate to the salvation of the souls 
immediately around him. Plow came your wife, or 
child, or servant, to perish? is a question which can¬ 
not be met by a plea that he was achieving a distant 
good. He must not neglect the Christian welfare of 
bis own household, then, even for the sublime occu¬ 
pation of evangelizing a nation. Nor need he—his duty 
in this case is coincident with his most enlarged ideas. 
For by filling the sphere immediately around him 
first, he is multiplying his agencies for a wider and 
still wider range of usefulness. It is by entering into 
cohesive union with the particles immediately around 
it, that the atom becomes a component part of the 
rock, contributes something towards the stability of the 
everlasting hills, and towards the gravity of the great 
globe itself; and by erecting the Cross in his own 
house, and converting his own house into a church, 
and that church into a centre of usefulness to the 
neighbourhood, he is preparing to subserve most effec¬ 
tually the interests of the race at large. 

Property is a means of influence. The material 
itself, indeed, of which money is made is intrinsically 
worthless; yet, having, by the general consent of 
society, been constituted the representative of all 
property, and, as such, the key to all the avenues of 
worldly enjoyment, it excites some of the strongest 
desires, and reflects some of the deepest emotions of 
the human breast. Its fluctuations are the tides of 
national fortune. It sways the heart of the world. 
Every piece of coin that passes through our hand, 
has been streaming with influence from the first 
moment it was put into circulation. It has a 
path through society, and a history of its own; 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


77 


rather, it belongs to the history of the world. In¬ 
dustry has toiled for it; enterprise has hazarded life 
for it ; speculation has gambled for it ; childhood has 
eyed it; poverty rejoiced over it; covetousness wor¬ 
shipped it;—it has passed through the hands of 
profligacy, intemperance, and all the vices. How 
often has it been carried past the temple of God on 
its way to some shrine of Satan ; how seldom been 
diverted from the service of sin ! Could the history 
of all the wealth of antiquity be given, what should 
we hear, but, substantially, the history of the ancient 
world itself—of its sensual pleasures, its projects of 
ambition, its sanguinary wars, polluting temples, and 
national oppressions! How great the opportunity 
then which the Christian possesses of gloryfying God 
in this department alone! While others are sullenly 
appropriating every thing to themselves, as if God had 
ceased to reign and even to exist, he is to conse¬ 
crate and offer up his substance before their eyes as 
an oblation to his glory, and thus daily to vindicate 
his claims. While they are idolizing money, and 
making it the common object of their trust, he is to 
strike at its very throne, and to awaken them from the 
dream of its omnipotence, by showing that its highest 
value arises from its subserviency to the purposes of 
the Gospel. Pie may not possess much—but he is to 
look on himself as intrusted with what he does pos¬ 
sess partly for the purpose of disparaging it before 
the world. Its influence depends, not on its amount, 
but on the way in which he employs it; and by 
casting his “ two mites” into the temple treasury, he 
may at once be publicly vindicating the outraged 
supremacy of the “blessed God,” and asserting the 
claims of “the glorious Gospel,” and constraining 
men, more than by a thousand arguments, to bow to its 
divinity. 

Self-denial is a means of useful influence. So un¬ 
earthly a quality is this, that no man can fully and 
consistently exhibit it without exposing himself, 

7# 


78 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


perhaps for years, to the suspicion of assuming it for 
some sinister object in the distance. But does not this 
very incredulity, arising from the extreme rareness of 
true self-denial, hold out to him the promise of pro¬ 
portionate influence hereafter, should he live long 
enough to vanquish that incredulity and to enjoy the 
reaction of opinion in his favour ? His self-denial, 
indeed, is meantime furnishing him with all those 
means of benevolence which self-indulgence would 
have lavished on itself; and these, by increasing his 
usefulness, are augmenting his influence. But the 
influence which he acquires, by this increase of actual 
means, is as nothing compared with that which he ob¬ 
tains by the fact, when it comes to be known—that 
he denies himself in order to obtain it. The amount 
which he saves may be only an additional mite, but 
the fact that he habitually denies himself in order to 
obtain it as a means of doing good, will ultimately 
invest him with a greater moral influence than the 
stranger to self-denial, though the giver of thousands* 
can ever possess. 

Now Christianity is a system of self-denial, and the 
Church is supposed to be its home. How can it be 
otherwise? Its centre is a Cross. This is at once the 
secret of its influence to attract; and the means of its 
power to save. Having felt that attraction and expe¬ 
rienced that power, the Christian is to extend its 
influence by exhibiting in his own life the image of 
the Cross. Were it possible for him to live in worldly 
self-indulgence, he would be doing all in his power, 
not only to stop the influence of the Cross from ex¬ 
tending beyond himself, but to efface from the memory 
of a world too willing to forget—that Christianity ever 
had a Cross. The only evidence on which the world 
will believe that Christ w T as voluntarily crucified for 
its redemption is, that the Christian be seen, in the 
true spirit of his Lord, voluntarily, and, in a sense, 
vicariously denying himself in the work of diffusing 
the blessings of that redemption. 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


79 


As the representative of the Cross, then, the Church 
is charged with a responsibility which requires the prin¬ 
ciple of self-denial to pervade the whole of its instru¬ 
mentality, and to become the law of its beneficence. 

Compassion is a means of useful influence. Even 
one of its tones, has often opened the heart when the 
rack could not open the lips; and in the Christian 
Church it is supposed to reign. The Cross is the 
utterance of Divine compassion, and the Church col¬ 
lected around it is a proof of its power. The com¬ 
passion which bled on the Cross, here beats in the 
hearts of all its members. They know the wretched¬ 
ness of sin into which the world is sunk—look forwards 
to the end of its course—hear already its doom pro¬ 
nounced—see the pit open to receive it—and hear, 
by anticipation, its hopeless cries for deliverance. And 
the deep anxiety which they feel to “ snatch the fire¬ 
brands from the flames,” and to quench them in the 
blood of the Cross, imparts a depth of tenderness to 
their tones, an earnestness of solicitude to their manner, 
and a combination and energy to their efforts, which 
give them a power over the mind beyond that of the 
most original truths unfeelingly delivered, or the stern 
authority of law itself. 

Persevering activity in the attainment of a useful 
or benevolent object is another means of usefulness. It 
is by perseverance that the small stream of the moun¬ 
tain, a thousand leagues from the parent sea, conquers 
intervening obstacles, wears itself a channel, swells to 
a river, traverses continents, gives names to countries, 
assigns boundaries to empires, and becomes celebrated 
in history. And by patiently persevering with his face 
and step always direct towards his object, a single indi¬ 
vidual will acquire an amount of influence and success in 
reference to that object, which a multitude, pursuing it 
only by convulsive starts, would fail to obtain. The 
multitude itself, gradually awed into respect for his 
steady onward course, will come at length to clear a 
space, and make way for his advance. And though for 


80 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


years his cause may not appear to be attended with any 
success, an event, unexpected perhaps, will at length 
disclose that there never was a moment in which he 
was not exciting the silent admiration of some, and 
preparing numbers to fall into his train, and to yield 
themselves up entirely to his influence. 

Now the Christian has motives to patient perse¬ 
verance in promoting the knowledge of Christ which 
no other object can inspire, no other man can know. 
The persisting energy which built the mountain pyra¬ 
mids of Egypt—which reared the Chinese wall—by 
which Alexander conquered the old world—Columbus 
discovered the new—and Newton elaborated the system 
of the universe, had trifles for its objects, compared 
with the aim of Christian instrumentality to save the 
world. But besides the infinite importance of his 
object, engaging, as it has the divine perseverance from 
eternity, there never was a moment in the life of Christ 
his Great Exemplar, which was not directly or in¬ 
directly made subordinate to it; there is not a moment 
in which the command is suspended “ be not weary in 
well-doing,” u be always abounding in the work of the 
Lord.” So that, unless it can be shown, that the 
perishing world ever pauses in its cry for deliverance, 
or that the Destroyer ever pauses in working the great 
system of destruction, the Christian can know no 
moment in which it is permitted him to pause in his 
peculiar vocation. The termination of one duty is to 
be only a signal for the commencement of another; 
his life is to be one continuous act of obedience. 
Every day returns charged with an amount of obliga¬ 
tion proportioned to his utmost means of usefulness. 
His utmost powers are to be constrained into the 
service, till by the force of habit his perseverance 
becomes invincible. He is to live under the ever 
present conviction that he has one thing to do, and 
that he is in danger of dying before it is done ; cheered 
on by the assurance that every act adds a ray to the 
radiance of that crown which he hopes to lay at 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 


81 


his Saviour’s feet, and tends to secure the perse¬ 
verance of others when he himself shall have gone to 
receive it. 

And this reminds us that the great designs of the 
Christian are entailed ; for the Church on earth, though 
mortal in its members, as a community is undying. 
History informs us of some governments, which having 
formed schemes of national aggrandisement too vast to 
be accomplished within u the hour glass of one man’s 
life,” have devolved the prosecution of them as a sacred 
duty on those who came after them. The Christian 
Church is to exhibit the sublime spectacle of an un¬ 
earthly government, embarked in an enterprise of mercy 
for all time. Its members are u commanded to make 
it known to their children, that the generation to come 
might know it, even the children who should be born; 
who should arise and declare it to their children.” And 
as time rolls on, the only change which this spiritual 
government is to exhibit is that which necessarily 
arises, under God, from persevering fidelity to its 
original design—extended domains, and a nearer ap¬ 
proach to universal conquest. “For the greatness of 
the kingdom under the wdiole heaven, shall be given 
to the people of the saints of the Most High.” 

Prayer is influence. Appeals, entreaties, and peti¬ 
tions, between man and man, move the affairs of this 
world; but in the Church, they move Heaven. All 
those other things which we have described as exer¬ 
cising influence, become spiritually useful only by that 
pow T er which descends in answer to prayer. Other 
means may be influential, but the amount of their 
influence is incalculable, bearing a proportion to the 
power employed;—but prayer, by engaging a divine 
power, sets all calculation at defiance. Other means 
may be good—but what must that be, the effect of 
which is to bring dowm Goodness himself;—and yet 
here the entire Church is supposed to be in daily, 
unceasing, impassioned, entreaty for the Spirit to 
convince the world of sin,” 


82 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


Union is a means of usefulness. And here it is sup¬ 
posed to be universal, visible, divine. As to each 
individual; here is the union of the whole man—all 
his principles and passions combined—no part of his 
nature wanting—no part shedding a counter-influence— 
the whole man bound and braced up for one purpose, 
as if devoted to the grand experiment of ascertaining 
how much a single human agent can effect in the cause 
of Christ. Here is the union of a number of these in 
a particular Church—in which none is inactive—each 
has his post—all act in concert—the whole blent into a 
single power, and putting forth an undivided effort to 
draw the world around them to Christ. Here is the 
union of all these distinct societies in one collective 
body—bringing together agencies the most distant— 
harmonizing materials once the most discordant— 
blending hearts naturally the most selfish—in bands 
more tender than those of kindred, and so sympathetic 
that the emotion of one thrills through them all—a 
union which economizes and combines all the energies 
and passions of sanctified humanity—which, collecting 
all the scattered agencies of good that earth contains, 
organizes them into a vast engine whose entire power 
is to be brought to bear for the conversion of the 
world. And then, not merely in addition to, but 
infinitely more than all, here is the union of Divine 
Influence with the whole—heaven come down to earth 
—the powers of the future world imparted to the pre¬ 
sent—the Spirit himself, in a sense, incarnate—per¬ 
vading his body the Church—investing it with un¬ 
earthly power—and employing it as the organ of an 
almighty influence for recovering the world to Christ. 

Such, then, is an outline of the Scripture Theory of 
that agency by which Christ proposes to reclaim the 
world. Can we forbear to admire the simplicity of its 
principle ? It is simply the law of reciprocal influence, 
baptized in the blood of the Cross, and endued with 
the energy of the Holy Spirit. All in God that can 
influence, is brought to bear, through the Cross, on all 


STATED AND EXPLAINED. 83 

in man that can be influenced, and the whole of that 
is then put into requisition by the Spirit to influence 
others. If this theory were realized, could we ques¬ 
tion its efficiency ? Of all who are brought within its 
scope, each of them is prepared to say, “ None of us 
livelh to himself”—and what but the expansion of that 
sentiment is necessary to fill the world with the in¬ 
fluence of the Cross ? Could we doubt its ultimate 
and universal triumph ? What, when the Spirit him¬ 
self had come down to work the entire system ? What, 
when the Church withheld nothing that could influence, 
and the Spirit withheld nothing that could crown that 
influence with success ? If even the secret tear of an 
obscure penitent on earth creates a sensation among 
the seraphim, the u travail” of such an agency for the 
salvation of the world would carry with it the sympa¬ 
thies of the holy universe. God would bless it; and 
“all the ends of the earth would fear him.” 









CHAPTER II. 

THE THEORY OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY FOR THE CONVER¬ 
SION OF THE WORLD, ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED FROM THE 
WORD OF GOD. 

If it be true that the Christian Church is thus con¬ 
structed expressly to embody and diffuse the influence 
of the Cross—and if its full efficiency for this end 
depends under God on the entireness of its consecration 
to this office, we may take it for granted that this truth 
will not only bear to be subjected to certain appropriate 
tests, but that all the results of such an examination 
can only tend to illustrate its importance, and to en¬ 
force its practical application. 

If the economy of Christian influence be more than 
a temporary expedient to meet an emergency—if it 
form a part of an original plan—may we not expect 
to find,.for instance, that he who “sees the end from 
the beginning,” and who so often sketches an outline 
of the future in the events of the present or the past, 
has indicated his purpose in the dispensations which 
preceded it ? Accordingly, we find that from the 
moment when the first promise was announced, the 
instrumentality employed to impart it was calculated 
to give it the widest diffusion and the greatest effect. 

I. During the long lapse of years prior to the flood, 
this instrumentality was domestic , or joatricirchal. By 
creating one common father of the species, making 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY, ETC. 


85 


him the depositary of the first communication from 
heaven, and prolonging his life to nearly a thousand 
years, the Almighty may be regarded as making the 
wisest and most gracious arrangement for the welfare 
of his fallen posterity. For in each and all of the 
myriads to which they had multiplied, Adam would 
only behold the multiplications of himself, and would 
therefore be supposed to feel a father’s yearning soli¬ 
citude for their recovery to God. And even as late 
as “in the days of Noe,” the comparative recency of 
the fall, and its immediate results, by rendering these 
results so much the more impressive and personally 
interesting; the small amount and the simplicity of the 
revelation which had then been made, by rendering it 
so much the easier to be remembered and imparted ; 
the universal prevalence of the same language, by ren¬ 
dering it so much the easier to diffuse that knowledge 
universally; and the continued longevity of man, by 
enabling one party to speak with the authority and 
tenderness of a parent, disposing the other to listen 
wfith the docility and faith of children, and giving to 
each a family interest in the religious welfare of all— 
afforded facilities for diffusing the knowledge of God, 
which strikingly evinced his readiness to save, and 
loudly called on all to inculcate and exhibit that faith 
by which Abel “obtained witness that he was righteous,” 
and Enoch “had this testimony that he pleased God.” 

II. The patriarchal dispensation, subsequent to the 
deluge, was migratory. By calling, and “preaching 
the Gospel to Abraham”*—removing him from pro¬ 
vince to province through a protracted life—investing 
him with importance in the eyes of the nations among 
whom he sojourned—sending his posterity into Egypt, 
and keeping them there for ages as a marked and dis¬ 
tinct people—leading them out by miracle—conducting 
them slowly and circuitously to Canaan as an entire 

* Gal. iii. 8. 

8 


86 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


a Church”—by these means, not only did the Al¬ 
mighty render the truth migratory, and afford every 
nation which it visited an opportunity of learning it— 
he may also be regarded as intimating the aggressive 
and missionary character of his future church, and the 
entireness with which it should unite and consecrate 
all its resources to accomplish its march through the 
world. 

III. The Mosaic dispensation was national and sta¬ 
tionary. Yet differing as it did in this respect from the 
preceding, it contained every prerequisite for answering 
its end as a local witness for God, and for proving a 
universal blessing. It was first a focus in which all the 
rays of revelation met, that it might next be a centre 
whence the light of truth should radiate and pour forth 
in all directions over the face of the earth. Nothing 
was omitted from its character and constitution calcu¬ 
lated to promote this gracious design. Its early history 
was a history of miracles, to excite the attention and 
draw to itself the eyes of the wonder-loving world; 
its ritual was splendid and unique; its members were 
distinguished in character from those of every other 
people on the face of the earth; its creed or testimony 
was eminently adapted to the existing state of the 
world, for it proclaimed a God and promised a Sa¬ 
viour ; its members possessed a deep personal interest 
in the truth of the testimony they gave; and, what 
was especially important, its geographical position was 
central.* That large portion of the earth whose 
waters flow into the Mediterranean, is the grand 
historical portion of the world as known to the an¬ 
cients. Judea was situated in the midst of it, like the 
sun in the centre of the solar system. Placed at the 
top of the Mediterranean, it was, during each suc¬ 
cessive monarchy, always within sight of the nations; 
and its temple-fires, like the Pharos of the world, were 


* Ezek. v. 5. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


S7 


always flinging their warning light across the gross 
darkness of heathenism, protesting against idolatry, 
proclaiming the one living and true God, inviting the 
nations to come and worship before him, and fore¬ 
telling the advent of One whose light should enlighten 
the world. The very site of its temple w ? as prophetic; 
placed on the summit of Zion, it foretold that “it shall 
come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the 
Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the 
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and 
all nations shall flow unto it.” 

And thus, though the Jewish economy was essen¬ 
tially national and stationary, yet so far from being 
exclusive, it was studiously adapted to bless the entire 
race. Its history attested an omnipresent providence. 
Its moral laws were of universal obligation. Its sacri¬ 
fices proclaimed the Divine placability, and said, “Look 
unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.” 
The name selected and inscribed on his temple by God 
himself, harmonized with this unlimited invitation of 
mercy; “ My house shall be called a house of prayer 
for all people—it shall proclaim that I am now on my 
throne giving audience to the w’orld.” And with this 
gracious design the prayers of his worshippers con¬ 
curred, “Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the 
people praise thee ; and let the whole earth be filled 
with his glory.” While the spirit of its evangelical 
prophecies looked forwards to the sublime spectacle of 
a world in prayer and sang, “Oh thou that hearest 
prayer, to thee shall all flesh come.” 

To this high and holy office of blessing the -world 
the Jewish Church was devoted by God, with all the 
entireness of consecration belonging to their own tem¬ 
ple—“This people have I formed for myself, they 
shall show forth my praise.” They constituted his 
chosen representatives to an apostate world. And how 
could they represent his existence and spirituality, but 
by maintaining their own existence entirely distinct 
from the idolatrous nations around, and exhibiting a 


88 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


character for excellence incomparably above them ? 
How could they exhibit to mankind an image of the 
amplitude of the Divine benevolence, but by becoming 
the priests and intercessors of the revolted world, and 
by entreating that he would hasten the advent of him 
in whom all the nations of the earth were to be 

blessed ? As certainly as they failed to answer their 

end, by losing sight of the lofty relative intention of 
their office, so surely by keeping that gracious intention 
in view, and devoting themselves to the exalted task of 
answering it, would they have become the spiritual 

benefactors of the world. 

The institution of the Christian Church, then, the 
union of all its parts, and the consecration of all its 
powers, for the spiritual recovery of the world is no 
new thing in the earth. The Jewish economy, in which 
every act of a nation was prescribed, from which 

nothing was excluded as insignificant, by which every 
thing was exalted into religion, and the whole com¬ 
bined into a useful instrumentality, was its ancient, 
appropriate, and luminous type. Nor will the Chris¬ 
tian Church answer the sublime purpose of its insti¬ 
tution in relation to the world, unless it recognizes 
in the entire consecration of the Jewish Church a type 
of its own, and devotes itself to the work of blessing 
mankind with an entireness, spirituality, and zeal, as 
much superior to what was to be expected from the 
Jews, as the character of its redemption is superior to 
the mere temporal deliverance from Egypt. Alas! 
that we should be so much more ready to recognize 
in their rescue a type of our own, than to discern the 
intended emblem of that relative devotedness which 
God requires, in the perfect consecration of their 
temple, and the studied adaptation of their entire 
economy to instruct and benefit mankind. 

IV. But if even the preliminary dispensation thus 
clearly intimated what would be the lofty and benevolent 
character of the Christian Church, may we not much 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 89 

more expect to find that character embodied in the 
life of its Incarnate Founder ? Accordingly, the cha¬ 
racter of Christ will be found not merely to illustrate 
his new dispensation, but to form at once its type, its 
origin, and its glory. His church is to be simply the 
expansion of his character. So that were each of its 
members to emulate a Paul in devotedness and zeal, 
and all of them to be united in a body as entire as 
the person of Christ himself, they would be only and 
inadequately exemplifying the character of their Lord. 
“For their sakes,” said he, “I sanctify myself”—I 
devote myself entirely to the work of human redemp¬ 
tion. In pursuance of this voluntary engagement, he 
withdrew himself, as we have seen in the preceding 
chapter, from the glories of heaven, and set himself 
apart to the sorrows of earth, and to the sufferings of 
a vicarious death. Though he saw as from a height, 
the whole array of duty and trial which awaited him, 
the only emotion he evinced at the sight was, a holy 
impatience to reach the Cross which stood at the end 
of his path—a self-consuming ardour to be baptized 
with that baptism of blood. Though all the fulness 
and fire of the passions dwelt in him, never did he waste 
a single feeling, but devoted the whole as consecrated 
fuel for offering up the great sacrifice in which his life 
was consumed, and by which the world might be saved. 
And why did he this ? not merely to impart a bene¬ 
volent spirit to his dispensation, though this is one of 
its sublime results. But as the reason of that bene¬ 
volent spirit is to be sought for in his character, so the 
reasons of his character are to be sought for in a sphere 
higher than this world, and in a period prior to the 
commencement of time. “To the intent that now 
unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places 
might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom 
of God, according to the eternal purpose which he 
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”* The reasons of 

* Eph. hi. 10, 11. 


8* 


90 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


his mediatorial character, are to be found in that eternal 
purpose which appointed him to the office of embodying 
before the eyes of the universe the glory of the Divine 
benevolence in the salvation of man. Charged with 
this exalted office, he came forth and stood before the 
world as the visible representative of the invisible God. 
“ He that hath seen me,” said he, “hath seen the Father 
also.” “ Henceforth ye know the Father and have seen 
him.” u I and my Father are one.” Possessed with 
the infinite magnitude of the task he had undertaken, 
nothing could for a moment divert his eye from it; 
every action and item of his life was referrible to this, 
and subsidiary to it. As far as consistent with the 
laws of mediation, he was content to conceal himself, 
to merge his own claims, that he might occupy the 
whole of our field of vision with the love of God. He 
goes even beyond this; “therefore doth my Father 
love me,” saitli he, “because I lay down my life for 
the sheep;” in other words, “My Father loves you 
with a love so unbounded, that he even loves me the 
more for dying to redeem you. He so loves you, that 
whatever facilitates the expression of his love receives 
an expression of his divine esteem : by sustaining your 
liabilities, by surrendering my life as an equivalent for 
your transgressions, and thus vindicating his law from 
all appearance of connivance at sin, I am setting his 
compassion at liberty; I am removing a restraint from 
his love which threatened to hold it in eternal suspense ; 
I am enabling his grace to act, to save whom it will; 
and for thus concurring in his benevolent purpose, and 
opening an ample channel for the tide of his love to 
flow in, the Father loves me; I receive such additional 
expressions of his complacency, that though ineffably 
beloved from eternity, he may be said to have had added 
infinite delight to infinite.” Thus unreservedly did the 
Saviour lay himself out even to the death, to aggrandize 
our conceptions of the grace of God. 

And how could it be otherwise ? Reposing as he 
had from eternity in the bosom of that infinite love 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


91 


which he had come to earth to represent; mingling as 
he had, in its all-comprehending counsels; knowing, 
as he did, its infinite treasures accumulated from eter¬ 
nity, he knew that no representation within the limits 
of possibility, could adequately impress us with its 
vastness—how then, could he be satisfied with doing 
less than the uttermost, which humanity sustained by 
divinity could effect, in order to express it ? A love 
whose sacrifices might be numbered and measured, could 
not adequately express a u love which passeth know¬ 
ledge ;” therefore it was that he withheld nothing, but 
“gave himself for us.” Could less than the deep “tra¬ 
vail of his soul,” have represented the pulsations and 
throes of infinite compassion ? Therefore it was, that 
“ being in an agony, he sweat as it were great drops 
of blood falling to the ground”—that he “endured the 
cross, despising the shame.” True it is, that know¬ 
ing as we do, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we 
may well be filled w r ith astonishment at its amazing 
riches; but equally true is it, that knowing as he did, 
the infinite extent of the love of God which he had 
engaged to represent, he felt that nothing less than 
such a display of grace could sufficiently express it— 
that even when all the infinite capability of his nature 
was in stress, nothing that he might say or suffer could 
possibly exaggerate our conceptions of the grace of God. 

Now be it remembered, that having thus embodied 
the love of the Father, he has devolved it on his 
people to multiply the copies of his character in their 
own lives. “As thou hast made me thy messenger 
to the world, I have made them my messengers 
to the world.”* They have now to do instrumentally 
for Christ, what he did efficaciously and really for the 
Father; to represent his benevolence to the world. In 
making them partakers of his grace, he not only intends 
their own salvation, he intends the salvation of others 
by their instrumentality; he intends that they should go 

* John xvii. 18. Dr. Campbell’s translation, only substituting 
messenger” for “ apostle.” 


92 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


forth from his presence as messengers, conveying to the 
world the cheering intelligence, that he is still sitting 
on his throne of mercy waiting to be gracious; and that 
they should spare no effort or sacrifice, which may be 
necessary in order to proclaim the fact universally. He 
says to them, in effect, you have given yourselves to 
me, and I give you to the world—give you as my 
representatives. Look on yourselves as dedicated to 
this office, as I in another and a higher sense, was 
appointed to represent the gracious character of God. 

Hence, partly, the mighty obligations they are under 
to task their utmost powers for the diffusion of his 
gospel. For if it was necessary that he should turn 
all his infinite nature into grace—that he should dis¬ 
solve into a fountain of healing mercy, for the recovery 
of the world, in order to do justice to the love of God, 
is it less necessary that their natures should be turned 
into tenderness and love, in order to furnish the world 
with an idea of his grace ? A very small portion of 
the ocean might suffice to represent a river, but will 
less than the Amazon suffice to represent the ocean ? 
And are our powers so capacious—our natures so ex¬ 
alted, that less than the consecration of the whole should 
be able to convey an idea of his grace ? So vast were 
his conceptions of the love of God that he attempted 
not to describe it—he contented himself with saying, 
that u God so loved us;” and aimed rather to express 
its indescribable amount in godlike deeds. And did he 
fall so far short of the great reality—was his repre¬ 
sentation of it so scant and meagre that we can imitate 
it without sacrifice or effort? It is true, his example 
can never be ecpialled, for it embodies infinite goodness; 
but with so much the greater force does it oblige us 
in our humble measure to attempt the imitation. Hav¬ 
ing died for the good of man, the least he is entitled 
to expect is, that we should live for the same bene¬ 
volent object. To save the world was his vocation, 
his supreme and single object—so that never do we so 
much resemble him as wdien we make it our business 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


93 


and calling to carry out bis gracious design. Yes, as 
far as religion is practical and relative to others, be 
has made benevolence its life and essence; not merely 
a part of the Christian’s character, but the character 
itself. 

V. The fact that the followers of Christ are appointed 
to be the channels and representatives of his grace to 
the world, supposes that they are called, prepared, and 
aided by an agency from on high. Accordingly, he, 
promised them that the loss of his visible presence 
should be amply compensated by the advent of u an¬ 
other Comforter, who should abide with them for ever.” 
May we not expect, then, that the Scripture theory 
of Christian instrumentality will receive abundant con¬ 
firmation from the nature of his dispensation, and the 
doctrine of his influence ? Let us seek the answer 
where, alone, it can be found, in the word of God. 

What, for instance, is the history of his first impart- 
ation in the Christian Church; No sooner had the 
Saviour ascended his mediatorial throne, than the 
Spirit came down, as he had promised,—came like a 
rushing mighty wind, filling the whole house where 
the disciples were assembled, filling each heart, filling 
the whole church ;—came with a copiousness and power, 
as if his influences had for ages been pent up, and 
under restraint, and now rejoiced in being able to 
pour themselves out over the Church and the world. 

And what was the- immediate effect of that event ? 
Thousands were instantly converted; the sword of the 
Spirit seemed newly edged with power; and, bathed 
in the lightnings of heaven, smote and subdued mul¬ 
titudes at once. 

Was the sphere of his agency to be limited to any 
particular country or province ? His field was the 
w r orld. “He shall convince the world of sin.” What 
w r as the instrumentality which for this purpose he was 
to employ ? What, but the instrumentality of those 
to whom his power was promised, and on whom his 


94 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


influence rested ? By whose feet but theirs was he 
to carry the Gospel “ among all nations ?” By whose 
lips but theirs was he to “convince the world of sin?” 
By whose hands but theirs was he to wield that weapon 
of celestial truth which, because it is the only weapon 
he employs, is called the very “sword of the Spirit.” 

Hence some of them he specially selected and 
appointed to particular spheres of labour. Many of 
them he miraculously endowed for the office. All of 
them found, that wherever they went in his name, he 
“ caused them to triumph.” 

But if the world was to be converted by their 
instrumentality, would he not require and incline them 
all to tax their resources to the utmost, compatible 
with other incumbent claims ? He did so. One 
interest prevailed. One subject of emulation swal¬ 
lowed up every other;—who should approach nearest 
to the likeness of Christ—who should do most for 
the enlargement of his reign. u The whole multitude 
of them that believed were of one heart, and of one 
mind ;” the spirit of Christ animated the whole commu¬ 
nity, and every particular pulse beat in concert with it. 

What, then, was the effect of his agency through 
the instrumentality of the Church? The Gospel went 
flying abroad to the ends of the earth. New terri¬ 
tories, for a time, were daily added to the domains 
of the Church. Her converts were seen flocking to 
her from all directions, like clouds of doves to their 
windows ; and, among the wonders of that period, one 
was to see some of her bitterest persecutors become 
her champions and her martyrs. 

And what was the great design of the Spirit in all 
this ? How remarkable and emphatic the language of 
Christ in reply! “He shall not speak of himself.” 
“He shall testify of me.” “He shall glorify me.” 
As the Saviour came to glorify the Father by the 
demonstration of his infinite love, so the Spirit came 
to glorify Christ by exhibiting and carrying that de¬ 
monstration home, through the Church, to the heart 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


95 


of the world. But what must be His estimate of the 
work of Christ, that he should thus, in a sense, be 
content to be silent concerning himself, in order that 
the world might resound with nothing but the claims 
of Christ; conceal his only splendours, that the eye 
of the world might rest, undisturbed, on Christ alone. 
And who can compute the enormous guilt of those 
by whose instrumentality his infinite propensions to 
exhibit the glory of Christ might be carried into effect 
but who give that instrumentality to other objects, 
and thus unutterably “ grieve the Holy Spirit of 
God?” 

Possibly, however, the promise of the Spirit to con¬ 
vert the world, it may be said, was not meant for all 
time, but only, or chiefly, for the first ages of the 
Church. So far from this, the gift of the Holy Spirit 
is the great promise of the Christian dispensation: 
“Ask, and ye shall receive.” The law of the dispen¬ 
sation on the subject, is this, u every one that asketh, 
receiveth”—a law which establishes the certain and 
permanent connexion between asking for the influence 
of the Spirit, and obtaining it. While the sacred 
Scriptures, public worship, a standing ministry—all 
the means of grace—what are these but the great 
ordinances of the dispensation, appointed as so many 
channels to receive the living waters of prophetic vision, 
and to convey them into all the world. And the great 
unfulfilled prophecy of the dispensation is, “I will 
pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” Till this prediction 
is fulfilled, and the world convinced of sin, the promise 
of the Spirit to accomplish the work may be regarded 
as repeated to every believer, through every hour of 
time. 

Now, as the fitness of the Holy Spirit to be the 
agent of Christ consists in his due appreciation of the 
claims of Christ, and in his perfect sympathy with the 
design of Christ to save the world, so the fitness of 
the Church, as the instrument of the Spirit, can only 
consist in its sympathy with the Spirit in converting 


96 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


the world and glorifying Christ. Did Christ travail 
in soul for the redemption of the world ? Then the 
fitness of the Spirit as his representative consists in an 
infinite travail of compassion for the application of 
that redemption; and never till “Zion travails,” for 
the same object, can she expect to “bring forth.” 
Did Christ devote the entire fulness of his nature to 
the salvation of man ? Then the fitness of the Spirit 
to be the steward of all that fulness of grace, consists 
in his readiness to administer the whole to the perishing 
race; and never till the Church is in readiness, by 
entire devotedness, to convey it into all the world, is 
it prepared to do justice to the office and agency of 
the Holy Spirit. Did Christ appoint the Christian 
ministry, and the various means of grace, as the chan¬ 
nels for conveying his gospel to every creature ? 
Then the suitableness of the Spirit to carry out this 
intention, must consist in his readiness to replenish 
these channels with heavenly influences, till the earth 
be filled with the glory of the Lord; and never till 
the Church has multiplied these channels sufficiently 
to realize this grand consummation, will it adequately 
sympathize with the office of the Spirit, or satisfy his 
infinite desire for the glory of Christ. 

Hence the importance of each believer individually, 
and of the Church collectively, being “filled with the 
Spirit.” So lofty is his estimate of the claims of Christ, 
and so perfect his sympathy with him in the great 
object of the world’s recovery, that he requires every 
member, agency, and influence, of the entire Church 
to unite to the utmost in enforcing the one, and 
realizing the other. The absence of a .single means 
which might have been employed, is not only to rob 
the world of that promised influence of the Spirit 
which might have accompanied its presence,—it is to 
proclaim to the unthinking world that he is not en¬ 
tirely devoted to the glory of Christ, and thus to cast 
a shade of grevious dishonour on the dispensation of 
the Spirit. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


97 


VI. But if the theory of Christian influence contained 
in the preceding chapter be scriptural, we may expect 
to find not only that it is thus in harmony with other 
truths, and deducible from independent doctrines, but 
that it stands out on the inspired page roith all the 
particularity and boldness of a distinct command , and 
all the authority of Apostolic practice. Nor are we 
disappointed. 

The mission of Christ from the throne of heaven 
to the altar of the Cross, contains in it the spring and 
principle of every other mission from that Cross to the 
ends of the earth. By dignifying us with his own love, 
and allying himself to our nature, he proposes every other 
human being as a magnificent object of affection to the 
whole species. By requiring us to forgive even our 
enemies, he would have it impressed on us that we 
owe to every man a debt of affection which is never 
discharged. By sending forth the seventy to proclaim 
the kingdom of God through Judea, he taught that 
the piety of his people is to be diffusive, and was 
training his Church for that bolder flight which 
should eventually sweep the horizon of the world. 
In order to enlarge the sphere of Christian beneficence 
to the utmost, he annihilates the ancient distinction 
between neighbour and enemy; teaches us to regard 
every man as our neighbour who needs our aid; to 
look on our field as the world. Taking us from that 
small circle which our selfishness prescribes he con¬ 
ducts us to a mount of vision, from which all the 
territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society 
are no longer visible, and where the living landscape 
presents us with the view of one vast community of 
immortal beings, claiming the same distinguished 
origin, involved in a common danger, invited to one 
grand deliverance, and passing together into the un¬ 
seen state. By teaching us there to pray, “ Thy 
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is 
done in heaven,” he would open before us the pros¬ 
pect of unbounded progression and improvement— 

ft 


98 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


inspirit us to enter on a career of emulation with 
angels—to despair of nothing, to hope for every thing 
in the moral advancement of the world, and to call in 
at every step the almighty agency of God. By simply 
commanding us to do unto others as we would they 
should do unto us, he lays a principle of relative duty 
so broad and deep that, if rightly built on, it would 
sustain a pyramid of benevolent and heroic deeds whose 
tops should reach unto heaven ; and by leading us to the 
throne of God, and teaching us to pray that earth 
may be assimilated to heaven, he reminds us that our 
means of doing good are never exhausted, since we are 
empowered at every step to touch and set in motion 
the almighty agency of God. 

But if the glorious object of this prayer is to be real¬ 
ized—if the harvest of the world is to be gathered into 
the garner of his Church, where are the reapers ? 
“ Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest,” saith 
he, “ that he would send forth more labourers into his 
harvest.” 

But not only will reapers be necessary—so vast is 
the sphere of labour, that agencies of every kind will 
find scope for operation, and as every follower of 
Christ can do something, not to do it would evince 
indifference to his claims, and would, in moral effect, 
be ranging themselves against him. “He,” therefore, 
saith Christ, “that is not with me is against me”— 
a sentence w 7 hich at once divides mankind into two 
classes, denouncing the absence of activity in any of 
his professed followers, and ranking it with positive 
hostility against him. 

For the same reason, however, that every member 
of his Church is to be employed in his service, it 
follows, of course, that every means of influence which 
each possesses should be employed also, and employed 
to the utmost. Accordingly he not only startles the 
indolent, by the inquiry, “ Why stand ye here all the 
day idle?” and by the command, “Work while it is 
day, for the night cometh wherein no man can work;” 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


99 


but our life in his hands is converted into a lamp 
which, like the virgins in the parable, we are to keep 
bright and burning; and into a stewardship, concern¬ 
ing every item of which we are to render him finally a 
faithful account. Our “ every word,” our u pound,” our 
various endowments, whatever they may be, are so many 
talents which he expects us to multiply by constant use. 
He will not require the possessor of two talents to account 
for three, but neither will he permit him to account 
for one only. The very fact that he possesses two, 
constitutes his call and his obligation to employ them; 
nor is he at liberty to set any limits to his endeavours 
short of those which his means and opportunities 
prescribe. And as Christian influence multiplies itself 
by use, he is held responsible not only for the right 
employment of his two talents, but for the other two, 
which that employment would have added to them. 
To deny himself for Christ is his daily obligation; 
but to show him how entirely he is the property of 
Christ, he is required to hold life itself in subordina¬ 
tion to the Christian cause, and to surrender it to 
martyrdom whenever the welfare of that cause may 
require. “He that loseth his life for my sake shall 
find it.” 

Having made it imperative on every individual 
disciple to consecrate his entire influence, from the 
moment of his conversion, to the diffusion of the 
Gospel, the Saviour made it equally binding on them 
all to unite for the same object. By calling them 
“brethren,” he would remind his followers that they 
form a brotherhood. Of all “the sheep which should 
hear his voice,” he declared, “there shall be one fold and 
one shepherd.” In the exercise of his high prerogative 
as the lawgiver of his Church, the only new command 
which he issued to its members was, “that ye love 
one another.” That they might have a pattern which 
should move as well as teach, he proposes to them his 
own example, by adding, “as I have loved you, that 
ye love one another.” To bind them together still 


100 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


more effectually, he made their affection to each other 
the badge of their discipleship to him : “By this shall 
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love 
one to another.” And as if to render the obligation 
irresistible, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and as in the 
very presence of the Cross, entreated “ that they all may 
be one: adding, as the great reason of the whole, 
“that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” 
At this practical and ultimate design of their unity he 
had glanced indeed at the commencement of his public 
ministry; describing his people as “the salt of the 
earth,” and “the light of the world.” For as, in the 
former capacity, they are to suspend by their holy and 
combined activity, the tendency of the world to a state 
of general dissolution, so, in the latter, they are placed, 
to catch the radiance of his throne, and to transmit it 
to a world immersed in the shadow of death. Not only 
are they kindled in their respective orbits to irradiate 
the gloom immediately around, but as a Church they 
are to unite and constitute “the light of the world.” 
And thus, from his opening discourse to his closing 
prayer, he constantly kept in view the combination of 
his people for the recovery of the world. 

For the same end he predicted and promised the 
mission of the Spirit. So candidly and explicitly 
had he described the trials of their office, that such 
a promise was necessary, if only for their encourage¬ 
ment. Having, therefore, taken them to an eminence 
and shown them the vast confederacy of evil arrayed 
against them, he reminded them that they were to 
fight in fellowship with all the children of light—that 
more than angels would mingle in their ranks—that 
the Eternal Spirit himself, arming their weakness with 
his might, would advance with them to the work, 
and convince the world of sin. 

And when at length “the hour had come,” when 
the Son of Man, having been lifted up from the 
earth, proceeded to put into motion the instrumen¬ 
tality which he had arranged for drawing all men 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 101 

unto him, as if he had been sitting on the circle of 
the heavens, and surveying all the possibilities and 
events that could occur down to the close of time, he 
answers the objections to this design before they are 
uttered, anticipates wants before they arise, and provides 
against dangers before they threaten. Was it necessary, 
for instance, that he should first legislate on the sub¬ 
ject ? “ Go, ’’said he, and he was standing but one 

step from the throne of heaven—“Go into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” 
Still, plain as this command might at first appear, 
the duty which it enjoins is so novel, and the project 
which it contemplates so vast, that doubts are likely 
to arise as to its import and obligation ; he repeats it 
therefore, again and again,—repeats it in other forms, 
as an old prediction that must be fulfilled, and as a 
new injunction: “ Then opened he their understand¬ 
ings, that they might understand the Scriptures, and 
said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it be¬ 
hoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the 
third day, and that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name among all nations, 
beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of 
these things.” If they are to enter on their office at 
once, peculiar and even miraculous qualifications are 
necessary. “ Ye shall receive power from on high,” 
said he, “ after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in 
Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto 
the uttermost parts of the earth.” But peculiar dangers 
will assail them: “All power is mine,” said he; “Go, 
and you shall move under the shield of Omnipotence ;” 
“lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the 
world.” Thus, making the most comprehensive pro¬ 
vision, and taking the whole responsibility of success 
on himself, his last w r ord to his witnesses was, “Go”— 
his last act was to bless and dismiss them lo their work, 
—and the last impression he left on their minds was, 

9# 


102 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


that they held in trust the conveyance of his Gospel 
to all mankind. 

And as this was the last indication of his will on 
earth, we know how his first act in heaven corres¬ 
ponded with it. The Eternal Spirit himself came 
down—came expressly to testify of Christ—came to be 
the great Missionary Spirit of the Church, to u convince 
the world of sin.” We know how the apostles began 
at Jerusalem, when three thousand souls received their 
testimony. We know how their hesitation to quit 
Jerusalem and Judea was gradually overcome—how a 
Paul was added, like a new Missionary element infused 
into their spirit—and we can conceive how they must 
have felt, as if, in the terms of his new commission to be 
a witness to the Gentiles, their own original commission 
had been renewed and reinforced. We know how they 
were divinely allured further and further from Jerusalem 
—how vision after vision drew them on to invade 
the neighbouring territories of idolatry—and how, at 
length, when even a Paul evinced a reluctance to pass 
the last limit of Jewish restriction—when even he 
scrupled to leave the confines of Asia, a vision was seen 
far back in the western regions of idolatry—a Mace¬ 
donian suppliant—the emblem of Europe—saying, 
u Come over and help us.” Bursting that last en¬ 
closure, the outermost circle of restriction he was 
not disobedient to the heavenly vision; and the Church 
found itself fully committed to its lofty office of tra¬ 
versing the world. 

And now, we might have thought, the Saviour has 
surely made it sufficiently apparent that his people 
are to be his messengers to the world. Nothing more 
can be necessary to show that this great object enters 
into the very design and principle of his Church. But 
not so, thought the Saviour himself. Once more 
does he come forth and reiterate the truth. When 
we might have supposed that his voice would be heard 
no more—once again does he come forth, and break 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


103 


the silence of the Church ; and the subject on which 
he speaks is the Missionary character of that Church. 
Not that it had lost sight of its office. His servants 
were carrying their testimony in all directions. But 
as if the angel having the everlasting Gospel did not 
yet speed on his way fast enough to satisfy the yearn¬ 
ings of infinite compassion, or as if he feared that angel 
would stop ere the whole earth, the last creature, had 
heard the Gospel testimony—he came forth personally 
and announced, u The Spirit and the bride say, Come; 
and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is 
athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him come and 
take of the water of life freely.” 

Here is the summing up of all his arrangements 
and commands for the diffusion of the Gospel. Having 
opened the fountain of eternal life in the midst of the 
desert world—the Spirit—the Church—every member 
of that Church—every power of every member, even if 
he can only utter the exclamation, Come, are all to be 
combined and devoted to the grand object of inviting 
the perishing world to partake. Every one that hears 
the call is to transmit it farther still—there is no 
point at which it may stop—a chain of living voices 
is to be carried round the globe in every direction till 
the earth grows vocal with the sound of the Church 
inviting men to Christ. 

Thus, if the last act of Christ on earth was to make 
the world the heirs of his grace, his first act in heaven 
proclaimed that he required all the benevolent agency 
of his Church to be put into full activity in order to do 
justice to the purposes of his love; and as this is his 
last recorded command, the postscript of the Bible, 
he would have it impressed on the mind of the universal 
Church, in every age, with all the freshness and force 
of a parting injunction. 

VII. If the preceding exposition of the will of Christ 
concerning the Missionary character of his Church be 
correct, we may expect to find a further illustration 


104 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


of that will in recorded sentiments and “ acts of the 
apostles ” and “primitive Churches .” 

Let us look at the great Missionary of the Christian 
Church—the Apostle of the Gentiles. It is admitted 
indeed that he had been specially designated to the 
office; but, by this circumstance, he is so far from 
ceasing to be an example, that the Head of the 
Church may be regarded as saying, “ For this purpose, 
partly, have I called and employed him, and placed 
his history on record, that my people may possess 
in him a model of the Missionary character for all 
succeeding times.” It is admitted also, that Christians 
generally, and even Christian ministers, are not called 
to the literal imitation of his missionary career. At 
the same time it is meant that they should more than 
admire it—that they should imbibe and imitate its 
entire spirit. The same principle of loyalty to Christ 
and love to man, they must possess; and from that 
same principle must they rise superior to selfish in¬ 
dulgence, and be able to appeal to their self-sacrificing 
piety that for them “to live is Christ.” 

The Apostle could do this; and it was the sole secret 
of his heroic devotedness and missionary enterprise. 
In the ear of the selfish and the worldly, the language 
doubtless sounds extravagant and absurd. In the ear 
of God, and indeed of every enlightened being, it is 
only the language of sobriety and wisdom. It was 
dictated by no mere momentary impulse of zeal— 
but was the result of a sober calculation frequently 
repeated, and of enlightened principle gradually ma¬ 
tured. There was a time when, in common with the 
world, he regarded life as superlatively valuable—but 
he now looked on it as comparatively insignificant, for 
he had found an object of unspeakably greater im¬ 
portance. Others might copy the example of their 
fellow men, but he had risen to the high and holy 
ambition of copying the example of incarnate per¬ 
fection, of God manifest in the flesh. Others might 
waste their precious time in ease, and sloth, and worldly 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


105 


indulgence ; but he aspired to enter into the counsels 
of heaven, to become a co-worker together with God, 
and instrumentally to mingle in the operations of 
almighty love in renewing and blessing a world of 
apostate but immortal beings. Others might content 
themselves with the praise of men, with the good 
opinion of creatures perishing like themselves, but he 
aspired to the high distinction of pleasing God—of 
being received and welcomed into the presence of the 
Supreme, with the sentence, “ Well done, good and 
faithful servant.” Others might be satisfied with their 
own personal salvation—but feeling that he had a 
Saviour for the world, he panted to go every where, 
claiming that world for Christ—panted to tc present 
every man perfect in Christ Jesus”— u travailed in birth” 
for the regeneration of the human race. 

Hence the secret of his self-denial, u I am made all 
things to all men, if by any means I might save some.” 
Hence too the spring of his Christian zeal— u if by any 
means I may provoke to emulation them who are my 
flesh, and might save some of them.” This was the 
reason of his prudence and vigilance—“ I please all men 
in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the 
profit of many, that they may be saved.” And hence 
too his joy in suffering— u it is for your consolation and 
salvation.” This was the object at which he aimed, 
and which filled the whole sphere of his vision; com¬ 
paratively speaking, he saw nothing else. Ease might 
offer him indulgence ; wealth might display her bribes ; 
pleasure might exhibit her charms ; but these had lost 
their power to tempt; to him they had become objects 
of supreme indifference. Persecution might bring out 
and spread in his path a fearful array of scourges, and 
chains, and axes—all the. instruments and apparatus 
of torture and death. But he looked at the Cross, 
and beholding the Son of God suspended there, he 
armed himself “ likewise with the same mind.” He 
looked around ; and he saw the assembled Church of 
Christ urging him for the glory of the Cross, for the 


106 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


sake of perishing humanity, to go forwards. He list¬ 
ened, and heard the whole creation groaning to be 
delivered. He looked above ; and he saw cc a great cloud 
of witnesses” bending with intense interest from their 
blessed seats ; and beyond and above them all, be saw 
the throne of the Lamb and him that sat on it—and 
in his hand a glorious crown of life—and he saw that 
it was extended towards him ; and thus sustained, he 
could point to all the instruments of torture and ex¬ 
claim, u None of these things move me, neither count 
I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my 
course with joy, and the ministry which I have received 
of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace 
of God.” And thus impelled, again and again he led the 
van of the army of the Cross—stormed the very strong¬ 
holds of idolatry and sin—proclaimed the name of his 
Sovereign Lord “ where Satan’s seat” was—planted 
the standard of the Cross in the very citadel of the 
foe—till his progress from place to place was to be 
traced, not indeed by blood—or if so, by no blood 
but his own—for he was covered with the scars of the 
Christian conflict ; but with the fall of idol temples, 
the plantation of Christian churches, the trophies of 
ransomed human souls, and with the song of the 
Christian warrior exulting, “Now thanks be unto God, 
who always causeth us to triumph in every place.” 
And yet, in all this heroic devotedness and self-con¬ 
suming zeal, w T as he exceeding his obligations—doing 
anything more than carrying out principles to their 
legitimate application—living to Christ ? Did he ever 
utter a word which implied that he considered himself 
an exception to what others should be ? that no one 
was bound to be so zealous for Christ as he was—that 
a lower standard of benevolence was sufficient for 
them ? On the contrary, how humbly did he account 
himself less than the least of all saints—how uniformly 
did he speak of himself only as one of a number 
constrained and borne onwards by the love of Christ 
—and how earnestly did he say to all, “ Be ye followers 
of me, even as I also am of Christ.” 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


107 


VIII. Now if such be an exemplification of what, in 
spirit and principle at least, each individual convert 
should be, let us next glance at the illustration of that 
Missionary spirit and principle as exhibited in the conduct 
of a primitive Church. The Church at Jerusalem was 
denominational, consisting exclusively of converted 
Jews. The Church at Antioch, including as it did all 
believers, irrespective of their nation, was the first 
Catholic Christian Church—“Now there were in the 
church that w 7 as at Antioch, certain prophets and 
teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called 
Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, who had 
been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy 
Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work 
whereunto I have called them.”* Deeply impressed 
with their individual responsibility, different members 
of the Antiochian church had already made certain 
unconnected efiorts for the diffusion of the Gospel. 
Grateful in the last degree for their own salvation, 
and encouraged by the conversion of the Roman Cor¬ 
nelius, they could not but speak of the things which 
they had seen and heard—“ And the hand of the Lord 
was with them, and a great number believed and turned 
to the Lord.”f 

But the time had now arrived when they were to 
attempt a united and systematic effort for the same 
object. It was not likely that such piety, wisdom, 
and zeal, could long commune together without making 
a combined movement. One, we may suppose, would 
insist on the evident design of a Christian Church 
to extend the Gospel ; another, on the authoritative 
will of Christ; a third, on the depraved condition of the 
heathen; and a fourth, on the instances in which they 
themselves had seen the Gospel prove “the power of 
God unto salvationwhile all would acknowledge the 
importance of a more direct, vigorous, and sustained 


# Acts xiii. 1, 2. 


f Acts xi. 21. 


108 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


effort than had yet been made for enlarging "the king¬ 
dom of Christ. u But who is sufficient for these things?” 
Agents must be selected—a sphere of labour appointed 
them—and their hands sustained by the prayers, and, 
if need be, by the contributions of the disciples re¬ 
maining at home—for this is to be a mission of the 
Church. Conscious of their own incompetence, and 
anxious to take no step which God has not encouraged, 
they wait together before him by prayer and fasting. 

“And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, 
the Holy Ghost said, Separate unto me Barnabas and 
Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” 
Here we see the Church whose members had been the 
most zealous, individually , for the extension of the 
faith, honoured to be the first Missionary society for 
the conversion of the heathen. While from the Divine 
designation of the two most distinguished members and 
ministers of that Church to be the first missionaries, 
we learn, that Christians will never evince that they 
estimate the missionary office as God does, till they 
select for it the choicest instrumentality which the 
churches contain. 

u And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid 
their hands on them, they sent them away.” Directed, 
probably, to their particular scene of labour, by the 
same divine authority which had nominated them to 
the work, Barnabas and Paul proceeded to Seleucia, 
the nearest port, and sailed at once to the isle of Cyprus. 
Paul had already gratified the instinctive longing of 
the young convert, to benefit those first to whom he 
is most nearly related, by preaching the Gospel in his 
native Cilicia. And now Barnabas enjoys the same 
sacred gratification, by preaching salvation in his native 
Cyprus. Thus it is that the Gospel recognizes all the 
natural and social relations of life, and teaches us that 
in seeking to evangelize a distant region, we are not 
to overlook the prior claims of our family, neighbour¬ 
hood, and native land. 

Crossing to Peninsular Asia, Paul and Barnabas 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


109 


prosecuted their mission by traversing Pamphylia, 
Pisidia, and Lycaonia, till they touched on the bor¬ 
ders of Cilicia, where Paul had already published the 
Gospel. In this way, the whole of the intermediate 
country between their two native places, resounded with 
the preaching of Christ crucified. In establishing this 
chain of Christian posts from point to point, they pro¬ 
posed to make it the base of a future Mission into the 
region beyond. And here we find the Apostle, on a 
subsequent occasion, enlarging the sphere of his labour 
by preaching in the remoter regions of Phrygia, Galatia, 
and Mysia. An apt illustration, this, of the expansive 
power of the Gospel; of the manner in which it en¬ 
larges the circle of its beneficent operation; and in 
which the Christian Church should ever be meditating 
further conquests for Christ, and preparing for the final 
occupation of the entire globe. 

Having touched the boundary of Cilicia, Paul and 
Barnabas retraced their steps, revisited the Churches 
which they had planted, and then “ returned to Antioch, 
from whence they had been recommended to the grace 
of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when 
they were come, and had gathered the Church together, 
they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and 
how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gen¬ 
tiles.”* Regarding themselves as the representatives 
of the Church which had sent them forth, and still 
retaining their communion with it, they take it for 
granted that all its members will feel the liveliest interest 
in the results of their mission. In the same way 
should every thing connected with the progress of the 
Gospel in heathen lands now thrill through the heart 
of the Church at home, and be regarded as a subject 
of deep personal interest by each oi its members. 

The Church at Antioch was now surrounded, as far 
as its position would permit, with the wide field of its 
Missionary operations. In whatever direction it might 

* Acts xiv. 26, 27. 


10 


no 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


look, it had the hallowed satisfaction of beholding the 
fruits of its labour stretch away to a remote circum¬ 
ference—an image of the manner in which every par¬ 
ticular Church, and in which the whole collective 
Church of Christ, should sit in the centre of a widely- 
extended Missionary domain, filled to the verge with 
the influence of the Cross, and thus prepared to enlarge 
and extend its circle till it embraces the world. 

For what is there in all this piety and zeal which 
is not equally obligatory on the Churches of the present 
day ? What had the Lord of the Church done for the 
Christians at Antioch, which he has not equalled, and, 
in some providential respects, even exceeded, for us ? 
“ Compassion moved them:” but is heathenism less 
depraving, or sin less destructive, or hell less fearful, 
now, than then ? “Zeal for the glory of Christ incited 
them;” but are we less indebted to redeeming love 
than they ? we do not hope for less than eternal life, 
and did they expect more? “The Spirit of God 
impelled and directed them ;” but it was in answer to 
earnest, united, and persevering prayer—and is the 
throne of grace less accessible to us than it was to them ? 
or the promise which encouraged them to repair to it 
repealed—“ Ask, and ye shall receive?” And is not 
the same Spirit saying to every Church, by the voice 
of Scripture, and the movements of Providence, as dis¬ 
tinctly as to the Church at Antioch, “ Separate unto 
me your Paul and your Barnabas ? Select your holiest, 
ablest, men; cultivate their mind and piety to the 
utmost; and set them apart to the Missionary office ?” 
“A Paul and a Barnabas were among f/iem, and if we 
could command such agents—if we could select even 
an Eliot or a Swartz, we would strain every effort to 
send them forth; but there are few, or none, such 
among us.” Yes, there are; or, if not, there might 
be. “Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but 
ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave 
to every man ?” By the grace of God they were what 
they were ; and, by the same grace, their distinguished 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


Ill 


excellences can be reproduced and repeated in every 
Church. Only let not Christians expect their agents 
to be Apostles, in order that they themselves may sit 
at home in indolence ; only let them expect that their 
agents will be their representatives , and nothing more— 
only let them look for a Barnabas in a Church worthy 
of a Barnabas, and look for him by earnest and united 
prayer to God,—and they will find the Spirit of God 
raising up an agency as suitable for the present day 
as that of Paul and Barnabas for apostolic days. 

IX. If we now proceed to examine the inspired 
epistles to the Churches , we shall find that, as the Mis¬ 
sionary character of the Apostle Paul is only an exem¬ 
plification of what, in spirit and principle, every other 
Christian should be ; so the Missionary conduct of the 
Church at Antioch is only a model for all other Christian 
Churches. 

The Churches at Ephesus and Colosse are exhorted 
to be fervent, incessant, and united, in prayer for the 
wide and successful propagation of the Gospel. For 
well the Apostle knew that the zeal for Christ, which 
led them to become suppliants for that object at the 
throne of grace, would lead them, while there, to in¬ 
quire, “Lord, what wilt thou have us to doV ’—that, 
so far from there expiring, it would there rather be 
fanned and fed, and rise into a flame, into which pro¬ 
perty, influence, life itself, if necessary, would be offered 
up as an oblation to his glory. 

The Phillippian Christians were to shine as lights, 
exalted to irradiate the surrounding gloom, “holding 
out the word of life.” 

To the Christians at Galatia, the apostolic injunction 
is, “As ye have opportunity, do good unto all men;” 
language which laid under tribute every moment of 
their time, and every energy of their renewed nature, 
for the good of the world. 

In his Epistle to the Romans, the calling and con¬ 
version of the heathen world is a subject of constant 


112 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


recurrence. “But how shall they call on him in whom 
they have not believed ? and how shall they believe in 
him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall they 
hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach 
except they be sent ?”* Leaving it to be inferred, 
that if the proclamation of the Gospel be necessary 
to the salvation of the world, the greater the number 
of heralds employed, the greater the number of con¬ 
versions which, by the agency of the Spirit, would 
ensue; and consequently, the greater the obligation of 
every Christian community to pray the Lord of the 
Church to raise up and send forth from among them 
the greatest number of Missionaries which their resources 
can supply. 

The members of the Church at Thessalonica “be¬ 
came ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and 
Acbaia : for from them sounded out the word of the 
'Lord.”f Not only was the report of their conversion 
circulated by others through all the neighbouring dis¬ 
tricts, but they themselves followed that report with 
as loud a call to those regions as they could raise, to 
“turn to God from dumb idols, to serve the living 
and true God.” 

While, to the church at Corinth the apostle writes, 
“We are come as far as to you also in preaching 
the Gospel of Christ, * * * having hope, when 
your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by 
y 0ll * * * abundantly, to preach the gospel in 

the regions beyond you.”| Already had he hastened 
from province to province, “ weeping over the wreck 
of immortal souls,” and leaving behind him wherever 
he had been monuments of the power of the Gospel 
to save. But, much as he rejoiced in this, the vast 
circuit which he had already filled with the sound 
of salvation could not limit his desires or his labours. 

* Rom. x. 13, 14. f 1 Thess. i. 7, 8. 

^ 2 Cor. x. 14—16. See an excellent discourse on this text in the 
Works of the Rev. Richard Watson, vol. iii. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


113 


There were “regions beyond;” regions which were 
still immersed in the shadow of death; and the weight 
of their misery rested on his soul. If he reposed 
a moment, therefore, it was only to gather strength 
for his onward course. If he remained a short time 
with a Church already formed, it was only that their 
flame might supply him with the means of kindling 
another light in the distance. If he rejoiced in his 
success at Corinth, it was chiefly as it enabled him 
abundantly to enlarge the sphere of his labours in 
“the regions beyond.” He takes it for granted that 
the members of a Church have “a claim to the ex¬ 
clusive enjoyment of the Christian ministry only until 
they have reached a certain maturity in religious” 
attainments; but that, from that moment, they are 
equally bound with himself to extend the knowledge 
of Christ into “the regions beyond.” All their re¬ 
sources are to be taxed for the enlargement of his 
kingdom. Circle beyond circle of benevolent effort 
is to be described by the Christian Church till the 
earth is encompassed in the vast embrace of mercy. 

And has the Missionary enterprise diminished, by 
the lapse of time, either in its obligation on the 
Church, or in its magnificence ? St. Paul is still 
exhorting, “that supplications, prayers, and inter¬ 
cessions be made for all men;” and declaring, that 
“this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our 
Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to 
come to the knowledge of the truth.”* St. James 
is still announcing to the church, “Let him know, 
that he who converteth the sinner from the error of 
his way,”—let him ponder the mighty truth—let him 
publish it through the Church as a proclamation from 
the throne of God to inflame the zeal of others— 
“Let him know, that he shall save a soul from death.”f 
What an inducement to the united Church to attempt 
the stupendous object of saving a world from death! 

* 1 Tim. ii. 1, 3, 4. 

10 * 


f James v. 20. 


114 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


The apostle Peter is still affirming that the existence 
of the world continues because God is “long-suffering 
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but 
that all should come to repentance.”* And St. John 
is testifying that “the Father sent the Son to be 
the Saviour of the world ;”f and leaving us to draw 
the startling inference, that if “he who seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of 
compassion from him, is a murderer,” the Christian 
Church can wash its hands from the crimson guilt 
of murdering the souls of the heathen only by making 
the mightiest effort of which it is capable for their 
salvation. 

X. But if it be true that this theory was prefigured 
by former dispensations; that it was substantially 
realized in the person of Christ; that it is called for 
by the office and agency of the Holy Spirit; that our 
Lord prescribed it, and that his primitive Churches 
either practically exemplified it, or were authoritatively 
exhorted to do so, might we not venture to suggest 
that most probably a scheme so wide in its sweep, is 
even more comprehensive still ? Knowing, as we do, 
that God acts by general laws—laws which include 
in their range worlds as well as atoms, and systems 
as well as worlds—may we not suggest that a principle 
vrhich unites and lays under tribute all the sanctified 
influences of earth, adds to them also the influences 
of heaven ? Revelation decides that this is the fact; 
that as there is but one object in the universe at 
which to aim, so there is but one plan on which it 
is pursued, and one being by whom it is conducted, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

From the moment—if we may be allowed to employ 
the language of time in speaking of things which 
acknowledge no date—from the moment when the 
Eternal Father determined to create, and to exhibit 


* 2 Pet. iii. 9. 


f 1 John iv. 14. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


115 


his glory and impart his fulness to his intelligent 
creation, a scheme of mediation became indispensable. 
The Son of God, as the only adequate representative 
of his person, and medium of his fulness, became 
indispensable to that mediatorial scheme. And from 
the moment he began to fulfil its conditions, and 
realize its designs, he became, by right and by ap¬ 
pointment, the centre of the whole. “For by him 
were all things created, that are in heaven, and that 
are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be 
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; 
all things were created by him, and for him : and he 
is before all things, and by him all things consist. 
And he is the head of the body, the Church ; who 
is the beginning, the first-born from the dead : that 
in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For 
it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness 
dwell: and having made peace through the blood of 
his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; 
by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or 
things in heaven.” And from that moment he acquired 
the right and the power to lay all the agencies and 
influences of this vast system of existences, economies, 
and constitutions, as it revolved around him, under 
tribute, in order to maintain the union, dependency, 
and order of all its parts to each other, and of the 
whole to himself. To withhold this tribute in the 
least degree is to derange the entire plan. Should 
such derangement occur even in the remotest part of 
the system, every other part and being belonging to 
it would sympathize with the shock, and feel himself 
personally aggrieved. Should it be announced, as the 
supreme will, that the offending party be reclaimed 
and saved, every order of being, every rank, each 
individual would feel himself bound to task his ener¬ 
gies to the utmost, as far as they could be made 
available, and to combine them with all the rest, in 
a grand endeavour to reclaim and restore the offender 
to the place and the happiness which he had lost. 


116 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


Even if some of those orders, owing to the difference 
of their nature, should not be able to minister directly 
to his recovery, they would take the liveliest interest 
in every stage of the process, and never rest till it 
was brought to a happy conclusion ; while every being 
of his own order would feel himself bound, by the 
particular obligation of kindred, as well as by the 
general obligation of loyalty to Christ, to unite in an 
untiring endeavour for his recovery. 

Now who does not recognize in this representation 
a sketch of what has actually taken place ? Not an 
individual merely, but an entire race has broken the 
law which bound it up with all the orders in the 
mediatorial government of Christ. The integrity of 
the universe, as a union of different intelligent orders 
under one head, is destroyed. But by virtue of an 
eternal purpose, that integrity is to be restored; they 
are again to be u gathered together in one.” The 
disclosure of this sublime u purpose which God had 
purposed in himself,” stirred the entire universe of 
holy beings; and for its execution every agency it 
contains is not only put into motion, but into actual 
requisition. The whole, animated and united by this 
one design, move towards the scene of revolt. The 
Mediator himself descends into the midst, carrying 
with him the intensest sympathies, if not also the 
actual presence, of all the beings who retain their 
first estate. For one of them to have withheld his 
sympathy, or to have evinced that less than his entire 
nature was interested, and held ready for the occasion, 
would have been to inflict the shock of a new revolt, 
il not even to create a pause in the onward movement 
of mercy. But “he was seen of angels.” In the 
whole of his progress from the throne to the cross 
they may be said to have formed one unbroken and 
undeviating procession. He advanced to Calvary with 
all the lovers of mercy, the friends of man, the ser¬ 
vants of God, in his train. In the sacrifice which he 
there presented, they beheld the means of mediation 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


117 


made visible to the universe, and complete for eternity. 
There they saw the doctrine , of which they had ever 
been enjoying the advantage ; and the fact or means, 
of which it had never entered into their minds to 
conceive, meet and become one. In its aspect toward 
God, as a fact, they saw mercy answering the claims 
of justice with an infinite compensation; and in its 
aspect towards man, as a doctrine, they saw both 
unite in appealing to the heart of the world, and 
establishing an infinite claim on its grateful and instant 
return. 

They themselves, indeed, are personally benefited in 
a great variety of ways, by the advent and death of 
Christ. u To the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places are made known by [means of] the church the 
manifold wisdom of God.” But on account of its 
remedial aspect on man it is that they chiefly prize it. 
They know that the race among whom the altar of 
atonement is erected, is the race whom it chiefly con¬ 
cerns ; and their perfect sympathy with its gracious 
intention, makes them conscious of a holy impatience 
to see that intention fully realized. Reasons, indeed, 
sufficient to prevent their repining, forbid them from 
presenting themselves visibly in the Church, or carrying 
the Gospel audibly to the world; but not the less 
ardently do they burn to see this done by those on 
whom it devolves. Does not the first tear of the peni¬ 
tent create a sensation of joy through all their adoring 
ranks ? As if to show the identity of their interests 
and ours, was not an angel employed to dictate that 
last portion of Scripture which discloses the vicissitudes 
of the Church to the end of time?* Have they not 
been heard rehearsing for the day when they will have 
to lead the anthem of the blessed, and celebrate the 
triumph of the mediatorial scheme in our recovery ? 
In fine, “are they not all ministering spirits sent forth 
to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation ? ” 


* Rev. xxii. 16. 


118 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


and when the success of the Gospel provokes the hos¬ 
tility of the world, is it not theirs to sound the trumpets 
and to discharge the vials of judgment ? and are not all 
their ministers combined, as far as compatible with the 
laws of their economy, for advancing the progress of 
the Gospel?* and would they not denounce the highest 
intelligences among them who should withhold a single 
ministration which was due to this object, as a traitor 
to the cause of mercy ? And if it is ever permitted 
them to offer a petition, must it not be one which 
prays, “thy kingdom come, thy w T ill be done on earth 
as it is in heaven ?”—one which shows they are tra¬ 
vailing in birth for the conversion of the world, and 
panting to see the Church on earth as devoted to its 
office as the Church in heaven, and both co-operating 
together for this great consummation ? 

Had it been permitted to angels to occupy the place 
of man in the administration of the Gospel, would 
whole regions have been now setting in darkness and 
in the shadow of death ? would not each of them have 
resembled him who was seen in vision flying with the 
everlasting Gospel through the midst of heaven ? Or 
were they now to be permitted by God, and authorized 
by the Church, to prescribe its duties and to dispose of 
its resources, would not a revolution be speedily effected 
in its state which would say to numbers who are now 
slumbering at home, “Go, stand, and speak unto the 
people [in the distant temples of idolatry] all the words 
of this life;” and which would put them in possession 
of the means of going? Or were it permitted them 
even to address us on the subject, what could the 
import of their language be, but an urgent exhortation 
to diffuse the knowledge of that mediation by which 
they and we are made one? “Brethren in Christ” 
they would say—for in him “ the whole family in 
heaven and earth is named”—“you have been brought 
back into order and harmony with the universe, how 


* Acts v. 20. Rev. xiv. 16. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


119 


can you live for any other object than that of aiming to 
add others to your number ? When we saw you re¬ 
stored to the circle from which you had been lost, 
we exulted in the event ; for not only did we behold 
you, by anticipation, occupying your appointed place in 
heaven, we saw your appointed place in the Church on 
earth—saw that you were called to occupy it as agents 
for Christ, and knew the happy consequences which 
would ensue from your required devotedness to its 
duties. Not more certainly is the throne of every 
believer prepared in heaven, than his appropriate place 
is prescribed on earth. In the system to which you 
now belong, every being, from the loftiest archangel 
to the lowliest saint, has his course assigned, and every 
holy act its appointed effect. You ‘have come to an 
innumerable company of angels.’ But the only object 
in which you and we can practically sympathize and 
unite is in the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, 
and the celebration of his glory. In every thing which 
relates to this, so truly are we one, that never can you 
put forth the least effort for its furtherance, but the act 
thrills through all our principalities and powers, and 
carries with it all our sympathies. So distinctly do we 
see the design of Christ in calling you to occupy a 
place among the agents of his mediation ; so evident is 
the adaptation of his Church to collect all such agencies 
as they arise, and to combine them with those already 
in operation ; and so evident the certainty with which 
the whole is calculated instrumentally to repair the 
effects of sin and restore the harmony of the universe, 
that we beseech you, by the new fellowship to which 
you are admrnitted, and by our gathering together in 
him, that you do the will of God on earth as unitedly 
and devoutly as we your co-workers are doing it in 
heaven. From the higher ground we occupy, we can 
survey the fearful consequences of your neglect in all 
their aspects, bearings, and dimensions—the glory lost 
to God, the happiness lost to yourselves and to us, and 
the immortal spirits which you are allowing to pass into 


120 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


misery in unbroken procession unwarned and unsaved, 
—consequences so fearful, that, were the exchange per¬ 
mitted, gladly would we resign our heavenly places to 
you that we might discharge your trust, wield your 
influence, and win the honours which are offered to you 
in drawing men to Christ. So eager are we to behold 
the completion of the mediatorial scheme, as it relates 
to the recovery of man—to gaze on the only Begotten 
of the Father on (he throne of the universe, encircled 
by the thrones and dominions, principalities, and powers 
of heaven, and by the number which no one can num¬ 
ber save from the earth—all radiant with his glory, 
living in his smiles, and joined in his praise—and so 
fully are we possessed with the conviction that the 
entire consecration and union of all your sanctified in¬ 
strumentality are essential to bring it to pass, that we 
adjure you, by the glory which shall then be revealed, 
that you ‘henceforth live, not unto yourselves, but 
unto him who died for you and rose again . 5 All in 
heaven is ready for the great consummation,—each 
angel, as an agent of providence, is at his post—each 
vial of judgment waits to be discharged on your foes. 
He in whom w T e both are one is on his throne, ‘from 
henceforth expecting 5 the glorious issue. What other 
mediatorial wonders may await the disclosures of eternity 
tve know not—but as if the restoration of man were 
only the first in a series of wonders—as if infinite plans 
were held in abeyance—the happiness of unknown 
worlds were kept in suspense till this be complete, 
unite all your influence in a great endeavour to make 
good our announcement at the advent of Christ, ‘Glory 
to God in the highest, on earth peace and good-will 
towards man . 555 

Now this, in effect, is the language in which the 
hierarchy of heaven may be regarded as perpetually 
stimulating the apathy, and urging the efforts, of the 
redeemed on earth. To the eye of faith they stand 
revealed, and are ever present as a great cloud of wit¬ 
nesses. Never are they absent from our midst, either 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


121 


actually mingling their agencies with ours, or through 
the medium of our faith shedding a practical influence 
on our conduct: and thus, in the mediatorial economy, 
all the sanctified influences of heaven and earth are 
combined in the prosecution of its saving design. The 
chain of relationship and mutual influence passes not 
only from hand to hand through the church militant, 
but through u all the family in heaven and^earth,” hold¬ 
ing the entire community in union for the good of the 
world. 

XI. But, further, this economy not only unites all the 
diversified influences which it includes into one agency, 
it also combines all their accumulations from age to 
age, and seeks to devolve the whole entire on each 
successive generation in the Church; so that we of the 
present day are living under the collected influences 
of all the past, and moving under an impulsive power 
greater than that of any preceding age. 

The analogy of this truth indeed runs through all 
nature and the moral influence of national history 
furnishes perhaps its best illustration. A people rich 
in the wealth of ancestral worth possess strong incen¬ 
tives perpetually urging them to noble deeds. To this 
cause much of Roman greatness is ascribed. u The 
Roman citizens adorned the vestibules of their dwellings 
with the images of their ancestors ; so that the faces of 
the patriot, the warrior, and the philosopher, were ever 
present, to remind them of their exploits, and to stimu¬ 
late them to imitation. The design was crowned with 
success. The virtue of one generation was transferred 
by the magic of example into several; and heroism 
was propagated through the commonwealth.” u Among 
no other nation” says Schlegel, in his Philosophy of 
History, cc did historical recollections even of the re¬ 
motest antiquity exert such a powerful influence on 
life, or strike so deep a root in the minds of men.” 

* See Bishop Butler’s Analogy, Pt. ii. chap. 4. 

11 


I 


] 22 CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 

But, surely, (if it be allowed to bring sacred history into 
the comparison,) the Jewish nation must be regarded as 
forming a grand exception. According to apostolic 
authority, the “advantage of the Jew was much every 
way, but, chiefly, that unto them were committed the 
oracles of God.” That which distinguished them far 
above all the nations of the earth was that from the 
time of their settlement in Judea, they lived and moved 
under the direct influence of their miraculous history. 
While one design of the temple appears to have been, 
that by making it the shrine of their most ancient and 
sacred relics, and the visible abode of religion, that 
influence might constantly act on them with ever aug¬ 
mented force. If it be true that the man is little to be 
envied who could walk “ indifferent and unmoved over 
any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, 
bravery, and virtue—whose patriotism would not gain 
force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would 
not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona—that to 
abstract the mind from local emotion would be im¬ 
possible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish 
if it were possible,” how deep and lasting the im¬ 
pression calculated to be produced on a people who had 
to walk daily amidst the solemn and gorgeous magni¬ 
ficence of an ancient economy adjusted and adorned by 
the immediate hand of Deity. As if inhabiting the 
sacred enclosure of the temple itself, they were ad¬ 
dressed perpetually by solemn voices from the past, and 
called on from every side by influences accumulated 
from the creation of the world. So deep was the effect 
produced on them—though, alas, a perverted one—that 
ages on ages of suffering have not been able to efface 
nor hardly to impair it. 

Now all the wealth of moral influence which be¬ 
longed to that dispensation, has been poured into the 
treasury of the Christian Church. We “have come 
unto Mount Sion.” It is not lost, but transferred, 
accumulated, and put into wide circulation. True, the 
temple is gone—its most sacred things have disappeared 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


123 


—the economy itself is abolished—the very nation 
scattered to the winds of heaven—but all its proper and 
mighty influence still exists. Nothing that belonged 
to it existed for itself. Every judgment that made it 
awful looked on beyond its own time and is frowning 
still. “ All these things happened unto them for en- 
samples : and they are written for our admonition, upon 
whom the ends of the world are come.” Each of its 
prophets spoke less for his own time than for ours; 
so that for us he is prophecying still—“not unto them¬ 
selves but unto us they did minister the things which 
are now reported unto you by them that have preached 
the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down 
from heaven ; which things the angels desire to look 
into.” Every event which distinguished it is still in 
actual operation, diffusing the elements of other events, 
and propagating its influence somewhere. And where 
shall we look for that influence, but within the limits of 
the Christian Church ? The Bible is the true conductor 
of all the holy influences the world has contained since 
the dawn of creation. From it the Jewish Church re¬ 
ceived in a concentrated form all that had distinguished 
the preceding economies, from the giving of the first 
promise, to its own establishment in Judea. Not even 
the holiest of all its members would have been what he 
was, had Enoch never “walked with God,” or had the 
Bible omitted to record the fact. In that Church, 
therefore, it may be truly said, Abel, though dead, was 
ever speaking; and “Enoch, the seventh from Adam,” 
was ever prophesying of the coming of the Lord. 
There, the patriarchs came and lived again for their 
posterity. There, the rod of Aaron was ever bloom¬ 
ing ; the manna ever fresh the rod of Moses ever 
working and repeating its wonders. There Sinai reared 
its awful head, and from its thundering top the law was 
ever demanding for God the heart of the world, and 
demanding from every man the love of all the rest. 


* Heb. ix. 4. 


124 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


In the same sense the Bible has now discharged all 
the accumulated moral influences of the last economy 
into the present. The Cross has received and trans¬ 
mitted the whole. Here, in effect, the temple of Jeru¬ 
salem still stands. Though in a literal respect not one 
stone of that sacred pile remains upon another, in the 
hallowed influence which it sheds over the Church 
of God it still lifts up its awful front—its fires still 
burn—its victims still bleed—its day of atonement still 
returns—its sanctity is still calling on the Church for 
its entire consecration. We behold these objects now 
—we shall see them in eternity. All the great events 
and solemn transactions of the Old Testament may be 
regarded as having takeh place in the Christian Church. 
Here, in the ministry of the Gospel, they do come and 
occur again. Here its miracles are still convincing; 
and its angelic messengers still appearing. Here Moses 
is still teaching self-renunciation, by wishing himself 
u blotted out from the book of life” for the good of 
others; and David leading the intercessions of the 
Church for the salvation of the ends of the earth; and 
the prophets still u testifying of the sufferings of 
Christ and the glory that should follow.” 

And, what is more, here they are all present at 
once. Truths and events which for the Jewish Church 
were scattered thinly over a long tract of time, are 
here collected to a point and made operative at once. 
Ages, with the men who made them memorable—and 
dispensations, with all the miraculous facts and sublime 
disclosures which distinguished them, pass in quick 
and close succession before our eyes; and we feel 
ourselves standing under the eye and influence of the 
whole. 

And, more even than this, there is reason to believe 
that great as was the influence which that economy 
was calculated to exercise during its actual existence, 
that influence has gone on gathering strength with each 
successive age, and is incalculably mightier at this 
moment for us than for those who lived in its imme- 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


125 


diate presence. Not only do all its parts act on us at 
once, they act on us also in their highest and noblest 
form. For us it is all meaning and spirit, emancipated 
principle, and active power. Liberated from its former 
restraints, brought into the light of a more spiritual 
economy, and allowed free scope in the ampler sphere 
of the Christian Church, its power is greater now tlign 
during its actual reign on Zion. As it was typical, 
it was temporary—formed for, and acting upon, “the 
time then present ;’ 5 but as it embodied evangelical and 
immortal principles, it was far in advance of its time, 
and destined to act chiefly on the future. Who will 
not admit that the character of the Psalmist, for in¬ 
stance, is exercising much greater moral power now 
than when he was alive ? Who does not feel that his 
prayers for the universal diffusion of the truth, 
and the splendid visions of prophecy in which those 
aspirations were seen realized, have not yet attained 
their proper place of power ?—that they have all along 
been struggling to reach it—that they are only as yet 
beginning to produce their legitimate effect—and that 
with every successive year that effect, under God, is 
likely to increase ? What manner of persons ought we 
to be to whom all this rich inheritance has descended ! 

But together with all this influence from the former 
economy, there blends a mightier influence peculiar to 
the present, a power so irresistible, that wherever it 
has had “free course,” it has swept away the thrones 
of idolatry, changed the aspect of society, and left its., 
impress on every object it has touched. Ours is the 
Cross— the great power of God—not only absorbing 
and concentrating all the influences of the past, but 
charged with a new power direct from God—containing 
in its bosom all the springs of benevolence the world 
will ever know; an energy of expansive goodness 
capable of replenishing the universe with light and 
love. Here God is seen enriching the world with a 
gift which leaves it nothing to dread, or to ask for 
more. Here Christ is seen taking the world to his 

11 * 


126 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


heart—seizing our nature as it trembles over the bot¬ 
tomless gulf—assuming it into union with his own— 
taking our place under the descending stroke of Justice, 
and suffering in our stead. Before our eyes “Jesus 
Christ is here evidently set forth crucified amongst us.” 
Here the Infinite Spirit himself, descends from the 
heights of his everlasting dwelling-place, as a rushing 
mighty wind—and the cries of penitence are heard 
around. Here angels, drawn from heaven, bend to 
gaze, and labour to comprehend the mystery of in¬ 
carnate love. Apostles come to lose themselves in 
wonder, and exclaim “ herein is love and to surcharge 
their hearts with a benevolence which impels them to 
the ends of the earth testifying that “the Father hath 
sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” Here 
the bigotry of the Synagogue, the doubts of the 
Academy, and the pride of the Portico, are seen 
kneeling around, and humbled in the dust. And here 
he who was the fit representative of them all, comes 
to smite on his breast and say, “God forbid that I 
should henceforth glory save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ”—and hastens away to fill the nations 
with the report of its glories, and to call on all who 
believed it to help him onwards to the regions beyond. 

If the influence of promises comparatively vague in 
their meaning, and indefinitely distant in their fulfil¬ 
ment, could produce, under God, the martyr-piety of 
Abel—the dauntless fidelity of Enoch—the persevering 
obedience of Noah—the Missionary pilgrimage of 
Abraham—and the self-sacrificing zeal of Moses; if 
the comparatively feeble influences of the Jewish dis¬ 
pensation could create, under God, those splendid 
constellations of excellence which glow and burn in 
the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews, who shall set 
limits to that moral greatness and Christian devoted¬ 
ness which the mightier influences of the Gospel should 
produce ? To know that, in practical effect, a whole 
economy has existed for us, that is, for the Church 
of which we are members—that for us its heroes lived, 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE, 


127 


and its martyrs died—to know that for us that economy 
of a thousand years was at last dismissed, as for us 
it had at first been called into being, leaving to us all 
its rich accumulations of inspired wisdom, godlike 
example, and moral wealth,—this, alone, should surely 
be sufficient to teach us the greatness of living for the 
future, and to kindle in our hearts the unquenchable 
desire of transmitting the great inheritance to those 
who succeed us, not merely unimpaired, but augmented 
by the influence of our own devotedness. 

But to know that that which displaced that economy 
was the personal advent, the visible humiliation, the 
actual sacrifice of the Son of God—that the eternal 
Father should have so loved us as to give from his 
bosom u the express image of his person”—should 
surely come on us with an effect which should leave 
us no power but that of obedience—no wish but that 
of multiplying our means of serving him a thousand¬ 
fold. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also,” 
asks the Apostle, “freely give us all things?” Might 
he not, with equal conclusiveness, have inquired, how 
shall we not for him also freely give him all things ? 
Before that gift could have been bestowed, the ocean 
of the Divine benevolence must have been stirred in 
all its unfathomable depths ; should the shallow stream 
of our gratitude be only rippled on the surface ? Of 
all his infinite resources, he freely gave the sum ; of the 
mite-like penury of our nature, shall we return him 
only a part ? To know that he who was rich should 
for our sakes have become poor—that the second per¬ 
son in the mysterious Godhead should have personally 
descended to our rescue—descended from one depth of 
humiliation to another, till a cross arrested his further 
descent, and made it impossible for divine condescension 
itself to stoop lower,—this is knowledge which, as it 
has moved all heaven, should surely be sufficient to 
move and agitate all earth. To hear that event suc¬ 
ceeded by the sounds and signs of another advent—the 


128 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


advent of the Holy Spirit, as the converter and sanc¬ 
tifier of human souls—to find that thus each of the 
three persons in the awful and mysterious Godhead is 
infinitely interested in our recovery—that there has 
actually been disclosed, in consequence, a new bond 
of their ineffable union in the fact of their co-operation 
for that recovery,—and that so intently is the com¬ 
passion of the Triune God set on the object, that no 
truth is left untaught, no miracle of mercy unperformed, 
no angel or agency unemployed, no part of the universe 
unmoved, no perfection of the Divine nature uncon¬ 
cerned, no aspect of the Divine character unexhibited, 
which is in the least essential to its accomplishment— 
surely this should leave no portion of the Church at 
rest, no means within its farthest reach untaxed for 
the attainment of the same end. 

To find that this is clearly the Divine design —that 
Christ, as the Head of the Church on earth, autho¬ 
ritatively requires that each individual Christian sur¬ 
render himself, and live supremely for the conversion 
of others; that these unite into particular societies for 
the conversion of greater numbers still: that all these 
societies in every land combine in sympathy and pur¬ 
pose for the salvation of the entire race ;—to find that 
as the President of the Universe having “all power 
in heaven and on earth,” he commands and combines 
the sympathies and instrumentality of the Church in 
Heaven with that of the Church on earth—assigning 
to angels the time and the place for their agency in 
providence, concurring with the movements of his king¬ 
dom of grace;—and to find that in the same media¬ 
torial capacity he even adds the presence and the 
renewing power of the Holy Spirit himself—surely 
this should leave no Christian unemployed, no Church 
unrelated, no agency we could invoke in earth or 
heaven to be absent from our combined endeavour to 
carry it into effect. And to find that this design is 
as practicable as it is obligatory; to hear other Chris¬ 
tians avowing their readiness to be messengers or 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


129 


martyrs—honoured or “ accursed,” anything or nothing 
~—so that they might be instrumental in promoting it; 
—to see Churches selecting and sending out such men 
to carry the Gospel onwards—other Churches emulat¬ 
ing their example;—to find that each convert as he 
comes into the Church is expected to proceed to his 
post and to commence his service,—and that each 
Church as it comes into being is expected to enter into 
the general fellowship, and to help forward the common 
object of the whole; to see that the success of one 
Church is rejoiced in as the triumph of all, and that if 
they suspend their song of praise for awhile, it is only 
to read over again the command which first sent them 
forth, “ Go into all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature”—to prostrate themselves in prayer 
for that aid which the Spirit alone can impart, and 
which furnishes them with renewed occasion for louder 
triumphs still—this is a spectacle which should surely 
leave no other question on the lips of the individual 
Christian than ct Where is my post, and what shall I 
do ?” and no other law for the Church universal than 
that of entire consecration. 

Now this was the prayer of Christ, not for the 
Apostles only, u but for them also,” he adds, “who 
shall believe on me through their word; that they all 
may be one, * * * * that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me.” Finding themselves acted on by 
hallowed and benevolent influences from every quarter, 
and from the remotest period of the Church, sur¬ 
rounded by lofty examples of Christian devotedness, 
and ever standing in the presence of his wondrous 
Cross, he prayed that they might feel themselves 
impelled to make his consecration the model and 
motive of their own, that God might he glorified, and 
man be saved. 

Be it remembered, also, as we shall hereafter have 
occasion to show, that there is a sense in which we of 
the present day sustain the accumulated responsibility 
of the eighteen centuries which have revolved since that 


130 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


prayer was uttered. In each succeeding age, <c the truth” 
to which it refers, has, through the promised agency of 
the Holy Spirit, been exercising its consecrating influ¬ 
ence, and instrumentally creating eminent examples of 
conscientiousness which treated no duty as unwelcome, 
and which evaded no obligation; of fidelity which 
spared no sin, nor allowed any iniquity, however 
splendid and powerful, to pass unrebuked—of courage 
which cowered before no danger, and shrunk from no 
conflict—of enlarged benevolence which knew no limits 
to its plans, and toils, and travels for the welfare of 
man—of Christian self-abandonment, which swore 
eternal devotedness to Christ, though in the presence 
of the flames which were kindled for its martyrdom— 
and of love for man, which even in those flames, 
wept over the misery of the world, and agonized 
in prayer for its recovery. These examples are not 
lost, though their memory is not embalmed in the 
volume of inspiration, their influence has been really 
added to that of patriarchs and prophets, of apostles 
and primitive saints. Whether we are conscious of its 
stimulating power or not, we are all at this moment, 
reaping its advantage, and are consequently standing 
under the weight of an increased responsibility. 

And to this, as the next chapter is intended to evince,, 
is also to be added the influence acting on us from the 
prophetic disclosures of the future. The torch which 
the hand of prophecy holds up, throws its beams on¬ 
wards to the consummation of all things. By this light 
w 7 e catch glimpses of noble examples yet to arise, and 
of glories yet to dawn. Many are seen running to and 
fro with the message of salvation—the Spirit poured 
out from on high to give it success—multitudes flocking 
to embrace it—angels discharging destruction on its 
foes—mountainous obstacles rolled from its path— 
nations walking in its light—heaven and earth cele¬ 
brating its triumphs—and Christ, encircled by his 
redeemed myriads, and receiving the homage of the 
universe. One of the obvious intentions of these dis* 


ILLUSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE. 


131 


closures, is, that by the certain prospect they afford 
of ultimate success, the church may be encouraged to 
act out its divine design, and to throw all its sanctified 
energies into the object of the world’s recovery. This 
is the effect which they have had on many of its 
members in every age. “Having seen them afar off,” 
and caught their inspiration, the martyr for Christ has 
embraced the block—the minister has startled the slum¬ 
bering Church—the Missionary has gone forth to awake 
the slumbering world—the saint, like David, has poured 
out as his latest prayer, “blessed be his holy name 
for ever and ever, and let the whole earth be filled 
with his gloryand the Church has echoed with the 
response of thousands, adding, “Amen, and amen.” 
And for us the light of prophecy still burns, that on us 
it may produce the same effects. 

And who is sufficient for these things? “We are 
placed, as it were, in the middle of a scheme, not a 
fixed but a progressive one.” The character of the 
economy under which our lot is cast, is, in this respect, 
unity in progress—unity with all the past, in progress 
for all the future. Upon our heads, the relations, 
influences, and consequent responsibilities of all the 
past meet and rest, and to us the ends of the earth, 
the remotest generations of time, and all the holy 
beings and interests in the universe, are looking for 
corresponding fidelity and zeal. Whoever may deem 
it necessary to form plans of independent action, we 
are surely exempted from the necessity, for we our¬ 
selves form parts of a mediatorial plan, whose pro¬ 
visions prepared a place for us, and bespoke the entire 
activity and influence of our whole nature, even before 
we came into existence; so that the only solicitude left 
for us is, how best we may satisfy its high requirements. 
Boast who may of extensive relations and influence, this 
plan connects us with every being and agency the past 
has known, and places in our hand lines of interminable 
relation and influence with all the universal and endless 
future. Tremble who may under a sense of respon- 


132 CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY, ETC. 

i 7 ‘ • 

sibility, “upon us the ends of the world are come.” 
Our very position consecrates us to the loftiest service, 
loads us with the weightiest obligation, surrounds us 
with anxious eyes and cries of solicitude from every 
quarter of the divine dominions. For the Church to 
be faithful now, is to save the world. Now, if ever, 
u the weak should be as David, and David as an angel 
of the Lord.” Now, if ever, prayer should wrestle— 
liberality should bring forth its richest offering, its final 
mite—the church should unite and clothe itself with 
zeal. For now, if ever, crowns may be gained, and 
kingdoms won, and a world in the crisis of its danger, 
be saved—crowns to be cast at the feet of Christ, 
kingdoms of which he is rightful Lord; and a world 
from which he is destined to derive his richest revenue 
of praise for ever. 


I 


CHAPTER III. 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE 
WORLD, ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED FROM PROPHECY. 

If such be the theory of Christian instrumentality— 
if its place in the Divine administration be so definite 
—its obligations so solemn—and its capabilities, under 
God, so great, we may reasonably expect that in a book 
so abounding with prophetic disclosures as the Bible, 
some glimpses, at least, will be afforded us of its 
ultimate results. 

That the kingdom of Christ is not to be always 
limited and depressed, is clearly affirmed and univer¬ 
sally admitted. For, as it has been justly remarked, 
u The prophecies respecting the kingdom of the Mes¬ 
siah, its extension and duration, and the happiness of 
his innumerable subjects, are in a much greater pro¬ 
portion than those which describe his humiliation to 
sufferings, and his dreadful death. ”* The isles are to 
wait for his law—the ends of the earth are to fear him 
—all nations are to be blessed in him—the heathen are 
to become his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth his possessions; for the mouth of the Lord 
hath spoken it. 

Inspired by the kindling influence of such a prospect, 
the Christian Church has, in every age, sung of a 
millennium,—a period during which all the authorities 

* Rev. J. P. Smith, D. D. 

12 


134 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


of earth are to take law and life from the lips of 
Christ; all nations to be enrolled among his subjects; 
all flesh to come before him; and all his enemies to 
be placed beneath his feet. 

But if the Bible be thus the prophet of hope, and 
if the loftiest strains of those who believe it be of 
a glory yet to come, it becomes proportionably im¬ 
portant to inquire whether it deigns any disclosures 
concerning the means which are to lead to it; whether 
the universal triumph of the Gospel is to be achieved, 
for example, by the noiseless and gradually augmented 
instrumentality of the Christian Church, accompanied 
by the energizing influence of the Holy Spirit; whether 
it is to be effected in a manner quite irrespective 
of such instrumentality, and calculated to disparage 
it before the eyes of the universe as misplaced and 
officious; or whether the grand consummation shall 
be realized by a middle course, which, while it will 
be always demanding, employing, and absorbing all 
the sanctified resources of the Christian Church, will 
yet leave room for the marked, and frequent, and 
direct interference of Heaven, and which will render 
such interposition indispensable to final and complete 
success. 

This, indeed, has been a subject of the deepest interest 
to the Church in every age. For as her heralds have 
gone forth to proclaim the Gospel—and her martyrs 
have poured out their blood to seal its truth, which 
of their bosoms did not swell with the ennobling 
thought which fired the bosom of Latimer in Smith- 
field—that they were assisting to enkindle a light 
which should never be extinguished—that their de¬ 
votedness would be in some way connected with the 
eventual triumph of the Cross, and be made subservient 
to it ? In proportion, however, as the time of the end 
approaches, the question as to the relation which sanc¬ 
tified human instrumentality bears to it, acquires 
additional interest. A thousand signs are supposed to 
prognosticate that the end draweth nigh; and each 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


135 


of them awakens the inquiry anew, “What is the rela¬ 
tion which the sanctified agency of Christians sustains 
to it ? Is their benevolent activity essential, in the 
order of means, to the latter day glory ? or does the 
tenor of prophecy indicate that so far from contribut¬ 
ing aught to its arrival and its splendour, they should 
rather “ stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord ?” 

Still more important does this inquiry become in 
proportion as Christians, awaking to what they regard 
as the voice of duty, multiply their institutions, and 
enlarge the sphere of their activity, animated by the 
hope that their humble endeavours shall certainly be 
crowned with success. Who that surveys the wide field 
of Missionary effort in the present day, and marks the 
“note of preparation” for still greater activity, can feel 
indifferent to the inquiry, whether or not it is to lead to 
any valuable result ? Who does not perceive that on 
the answer to this inquiry depends, if not the very con¬ 
tinuance of our activity, much, at least, of the cheerful¬ 
ness of our obedience, and the degree of our devoted¬ 
ness ? And who does not perceive that if the glory of 
the millennium is to burst on the world quite irrespective 
of Christian instrumentality, to urge such instrumen¬ 
tality as the appointed means of hastening that period 
is to indulge in delusion for the present, and to prepare 
mortification for the future ? 

But should there be those in the Church of any con¬ 
sideration or influence, whose views of prophecy induce 
them to depreciate, if not even to deprecate, the high 
attempt which aims at the conversion of the world, it 
becomes a step of the first importance to inquire into 
the authority of such views, and, if found unscriptural, 
to obviate their paralyzing effect. We are aware, in¬ 
deed, that among those who, for the sake of distinction, 
are called millenarians, there are to be found divines of 
considerable reputation, and Christians of the highest 
sanctity. And equally aware are we that under the 
generic name of millenarianism is included a great 
diversity of opinions as to the order of the events imme- 


136 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


diately preceding the millennium, and the kind of means 
which will be made contributory to it—that it does not 
necessarily disparage the benevolent endeavours of the 
present day, nor seek to discourage them by constantly 
harping on their ultimate failure—but that many of 
those who hold it, profess to derive from it motives to 
increased diligence in the cause of God. And, accord¬ 
ingly, some of them, we are aware, number among the 
liberal and active supporters of our religious institutions. 
Still, however, we cannot but suspect that in many of 
such instances, we are indebted for what they do, rather 
to the very natural desire of recommending their peculiar 
views to others than to the views themselves—that their 
conduct is, in this particular, better than their creed— 
that it is the triumph of their piety over their opinions 
—and that, as a vehicle put into rapid motion, will con¬ 
tinue to advance for awhile by its own momentum, 
after the power which first propelled it is withdrawn, 
their present activity is the result of principles which 
date anterior to their peculiar views of prophecy. Our 
warrant for this fear is to be found in the fact that of 
those who, prior to their adoption of millenarianism, cc did 
run well,” and who even subsequently continued for 
awhile to move in the same direction, a very large pro¬ 
portion are now acting in reference to the diffusion of 
the Gospel as if a prophet had been deputed to say to 
them, “your strength is to sit still.” 

That such must be the necessary effect of all views of 
the future which tend to show that the endeavours of 
the present will prove abortive, is evident. Hope is 
the parent of all activity. We ourselves “are saved by 
hope;” and we shall attempt instrumentally to save 
others only as we are animated by the same principle. 
To be doomed to labour without hope, has been my¬ 
thologically represented as one of the punishments of 
the lost. To expect, then, that the same efforts will 
be made where failure is certain, as where success 
is anticipated, is to overlook a fundamental principle 
of human nature. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


137 


To say that “duty is ours and events are God’s;” 
and that therefore we are to advance whatever the 
result may be, is to forget the important fact, that in the 
case before us, the u events,” according to the millen- 
arian, are no longer God’s, for he is supposed to have 
clearly foretold them. This proverbial saying, there¬ 
fore, has no application here. As long as the result of 
a course of duty is doubtful only, hope and fear 
alternate; nor would it be possible for fear entirely 
to prevail without bringing the mind to the full and 
fatal pause of despair. But in the question under 
consideration, we are not supposed to be left in a state 
of uncertainty as to the issue of our endeavours, but to 
be distinctly apprized that they will end in defeat. And 
the known and inevitable tendency of such a state of 
mind is (with certain exceptions of the kind we have 
noticed) to produce relative inaction. For if the 
members of the Christian church were to be now 
divided into those who are strenuous in the cause of 
missions, and those who are comparatively inert; where 
should we expect to find the latter but among those who 
are postponing the moral improvement of the world to the 
second coming of Christ; and who, relying on the suffi¬ 
ciency of that future miracle , anticipate little or no 
advantage from, the use of present means ? Nor would 
our expectation, it is to be feared, be disappointed. 

On a question, then, involving nothing less than 
the movements and hopes of the Christian Church 
in relation to the world, and the practical aspect of 
prophecy towards each, it is important that we should 
distinctly state what it is we object to in others, and 
what are the views and expectations which, from a con¬ 
sideration of prophecy, we ourselves are led to entertain. 

With the minor points of controversy in the pre- 
millennial creed, we have at present nothing to do; 
nor even with the great question of the “personal 
advent.” From more than a cursory survey of prophecy, 
the writer is free to admit that the hope of those who 
anticipate that the happy reign of piety on earth will 

12 # 


138 CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 

be attained by the peaceful and uninterrupted progress 
of the means at present employed, and by these alone, 
is unwarranted by Scripture. 

The cause of Christ, as now conducted, is no doubt 
destined to sustain many a severe encounter and dis¬ 
heartening reverse. And even his coming*—the advent 
of his power, in strange providences, and at critical 
junctures, may again and again be necessary in order to 
turn the battle at the gate, and to crown it with success. 
But that which we strenuously oppose is the practical 
inference too generally drawn from the pre-millennial 
creed, and which operates, as we think, both to the 
dishonour of the prophetic Scriptures, and to the dis¬ 
couragement of Christian activity—namely, that because 
a mighty conflict may await the Christian Church, and 
because the marked interposition of Christ may be 
necessary to terminate that struggle, and to take actual 
and entire possession of the earth, therefore, but little 
real good is to be expected from the most devoted 
endeavours of the Church at present. And that which 
we hope to substantiate is, first, that such an inference 
is at variance with some of the admitted principles and 
necessary deductions of Divine revelation; secondly, 
that it is not warranted by prophecy itself; but, thirdly, 
that the very reverse is the doctrine of the prophetic 
Scriptures; and, fourthly, is found to be in perfect 
harmony with every other part of the Word of God, by 
which its correctness can be properly tested. 

The prosecution of this inquiry will, if we do not 
greatly mistake, disclose the important facts, that what¬ 
ever conflicts may hereafter ensue between the Church 
and the world, will be provoked chiefly by the success 
of the Gospel,—and that whatever judgments the earth 
may yet be called to witness, they will only concur with 
the power of the Gospel, like the miracles of the primi¬ 
tive Church, to enlarge the domains of the Christian 

* The TfttQOvcrlcc , or, “coming of Christ, is referred to various 
providential events, by some of those, even, who believe that it re¬ 
lates pre-eminently to a personal pre-millennial advent. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


139 


faith ; so that those very predictions, which are too often 
made to depress the hopes, and dishearten the zeal, of 
the Church, will be found calculated, when rightly un¬ 
derstood, to animate its activity as with the blast of a 
trumpet. It will then be our aim, in concluding the 
chapter, to harmonize the whole with the chapters which 
have gone before ; and to show the bearing of the entire 
Part on the consecration of the Church for the conver¬ 
sion of the world. 

I. u Every single text of prophecy,” remarks Bishop 
Horsley, “ is to be considered as part of an entire 
system, and to be understood in that sense which may 
best connect it with the whole.” Extending still 
farther the application of this valuable rule of pro¬ 
phetic exposition, we may add, that the entire scheme 
of prophecy itself is to be regarded as a part of the 
great system of revelation, and to be understood in that 
sense which may best harmonize with every other part. 

1. Now if there be a principle in Scripture to be 
relied on, surely it is this, that the Divine injunction 
of any relative duty, implies a promise of the Divine 
assistance requisite to its performance, and of success, 
proportioned to the degree in which w r e avail ourselves 
of that assistance. In illustration of this position, it 
will be sufficient to quote the familiar passage, u Train 
up a child in the w r ay he should go ; and when he is old, he 
will not depart from it.” Nor does this language, or the 
large class of Scriptures to which it belongs, imply any¬ 
thing more than that the moral department of the 
Divine government is conducted on a plan equally with 
the natural or physical; that in the world of mind, as 
well as of matter, certain causes produce certain effects. 
The effects, indeed, may not result precisely in accord¬ 
ance with human calculations. As in the ministry of 
Christ, they may be long delayed, and even apparently 
be made frustrate. But though “he was despised and 
rejected of men,” the same chapter which foretold his 
rejection, adds, “ he shall see of the travail of his soul. 


140 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY / 


and shall be satisfiedand every subsequent age has 
witnessed its gradual fulfilment. This constancy of 
connexion, indeed, between means and ends—between 
causes and effects—seems essential to the character of 
a wise and gracious government, as well as to furnish 
some of the motives necessary to obedience ; especially, 
too, as it still reserves to its Divine Sovereign the right 
of exceeding his promises in whatever way he pleases. 

But according to the views of many of those of 
whom w 7 e are speaking, here is a grand exception to 
the uniformity of the Divine procedure. Yes, in the 
very last act, the closing scene of the great drama 
of Providence,—where, if apparent irregularity had 
previously obtained, we should rather have looked for 
the explanation, and coincidence of the whole,—even 
here, forsooth, the universe is to witness the disruption 
of a principle which had previously maintained the 
stability of a rock; a great gulf is to open and yawn 
between means and ends. For though the commands 
of God had pointed to a particular issue,—the con¬ 
version of the world; and though the hopes and 
endeavours of his people had, in dependence on his 
gracious aid, travelled in the same direction, it is then 
to appear that they had never tended to realize it, 
and that a stupendous miracle alone can prevent the 
dreadful result. Thus the prophecies of Scripture 
are made to clash with its commands. 

2. Equally at variance does such an interpretation 
appear with the unimpeachable sincerity of the Divine 
character. The substance of all the relative commands 
which God has enjoined is this, ‘‘Evangelize the 
worldand the substance of all his promises corre¬ 
sponds with it,—“The world shall be evangelized.” 
In obedience to this command, and animated by this 
promise, his Church is beginning to address itself more 
seriously than ever to its great vocation. But while 
it is allowed that the command which enjoins this 
duty, and the promise which inspires this hope, stand 
out so clearly on the sacred page that he who runs 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


141 


may read, it is contended by the party in question 
that a third class of Sacred Scripture comes to light; 
more occult, it may be, in meaning, and requiring 
very prolonged and careful consideration; but the 
practical result of which is, that obedience to the 
command will prove all but fruitless for the end pro¬ 
posed, and that the hope of personal success inspired 
by the promise is almost entirely unfounded. As if 
a king should forward to the commander of his forces 
positive orders to engage the foe, accompanied with 
assurances of certain triumph, but should interline 
the despatches with a secret writing in cypher, which 
required to be held to the fire and laboriously studied 
in order to be understood, and the inference to be 
drawn from which was, that the campaign would end 
in all but entire defeat, and that the victory promised 
would ensue in a manner quite irrespective of his 
conflicts. Such a communication would throw at least 
a deep shade on the sincerity of him who sent it. 

3. Nor does such an interpretation seem less to 
impugn the benignity of the Divine character. Instead 
of taking it for granted that we should be enamoured 
of duty for its own sake alone, he evinces the kindest 
consideration for our fallen condition by accompanying 
his commands with appropriate promises and blessings; 
graciously alluring us to cultivate the tree by engaging 
that its fruits shall be our own. The Saviour himself 
was not called to suffer without enjoying the sustaining 
prospect of its glorious results. On the lofty moral 
elevation of the cross, the triumphs of his gospel 
through all the ages of time, passed in review before 
him ; and “for the joy which was thus set before 
him, he endured the cross, despising the shame.” 

But on the hypothesis in question his followers are 
required to labour and suffer, not only without the 
hope of consequent usefulness, but even in the clear 
foresight of comparative failure. Now to expect that 
we should be as active in our efforts to evangelize the 
world in the face of this foreseen defeat as we should 


142 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


be in the prospect of success, is, to say the least, at 
variance with that benignity by which we are accus¬ 
tomed to regard the Divine requirements as ordinarily 
distinguished. 

4. It may properly be objected also that the hypo¬ 
thesis which makes prophecy disclose the comparative 
failure of a course of conduct which the command of 
God has yet made obligatory, is at variance with that 
wise reserve of Scripture concerning such events of 
the future as involve the freedom of human action. 
While some of the prophecies predictive of happy 
results are so constructed as to encourage the obedience 
of those whom they chiefly concern, and others pre¬ 
dictive of evil are calculated to produce repentance, 
and while they thus denote the benignity of their 
Author, by furnishing motives to holiness, there is 
none which, if rightly interpreted, can be regarded 
as furnishing a single motive of a contrary nature. 
But according to the view r s we are opposing, here is 
a large class of prophecies the tendency of which is 
to dishearten obedience by depriving it prospectively 
of its appropriate results; thus interfering with that 
probationary freedom of action which a concealment 
of the future would have left undisturbed. 

5. Besides which, the views in question appear 
highly derogatory to the present economy as the dis¬ 
pensation of the Spirit, and to the ordinance of preach¬ 
ing as the medium of his operation. u Glorious things 
are spoken” in prophecy of the results which should 
signalize the impartation of the Spirit. If Isaiah, for 
instance, be asked how long the spiritual desolation 
of his people, as at present exhibited, will continue, 
he replies,* u Until the Spirit be poured upon us 
from on high; then shall the wilderness be a fruitful 
field, and the fruitful field be esteemed a forest.” If 
we inquire of the Lord, at the hand of Ezekiel, by 
what agency the Jews are to be finally converted, and 

* Chap, xxxii. 15 j see also Zech. iv. 6. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


143 


made eminent in the earth, the reply is substantially 
the same,* “ Neither will I hide my face any more 
from them; for I have poured out my Spirit upon 
the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” In the 
prophecy of Joel the promise of the Spirit takes a still 
wider range; “For it shall come to pass in the last 
days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon 
all flesh.”f Gentiles as well as Jews are included 
in its comprehensive embrace; for, says the apostle 
Paul, when quoting a part of the prediction,;£ “there 
is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for 
the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon 
him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
Lord shall be saved.” 

Here, then, is a series of predictions importing 
that during the last days§ spiritual transformations 
of the most glorious and comprehensive nature shall 
result from the impartation of the Holy Spirit. From 
the day of Pentecost down to the present the Spirit 
has effected these transformations chiefly through the 
preaching of the Gospel. Even on that memorable 
day the “ signs and wonders” which attended his effu¬ 
sion only prepared the way for the pungent address 
of the apostle Peter. It was “ when they heard this” 
that the arrows of the Lord took effect in three 
thousand hearts. Miraculous phenomena may be em¬ 
ployed to engage the requisite attention for a messenger 
from God, and adequately to attest the divinity of his 
message, and may even disarm unbelief, and enlist the 
judgment on the side of the truth ; but when the 
heart is to be pierced and subdued, the “ message” 

* Chap, xxxix. 29. f Chap. ii. 28, as quoted Acts ii. 17. 

\ Rom. x. 12, 13. 

§ The phrase LXX ev ialg ia/draig 7\yeqaic;, 

originally and properly denoted future times. But as the coming ot 
the Messiah was, for the Jew, the most glorious event in all the fu¬ 
ture, the phrase came to be appropriated to the period ot his advent 
and reign. Accordingly, in the New Testament; for example, in 
Acts ii. 17, Heb. i. 2, 1 Pet. i. 20, it is employed to denote the times 
ever since the first coming of Christ. 


144 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


itself is “the sword of the Spirit.” "YVhence we 
may infer that in all subsequent times, whatever 
miraculous means may be subordinately employed, his 
renewing influence will be exerted principally through 
the same instrumentality. And as the Church has 
not yet witnessed anything answering to the fulfilment 
of these predictions, as an untouched ocean of spiritual 
influence is vet contained in them, we are to conclude 
that great as the triumphs of the Gospel at times 
have been already, a period is impending when we 
shall see far greater things than these. So that any 
views which cast but a passing shade on that happy 
prospect, or which transfer the honour of effecting 
them to any other department of the Divine govern¬ 
ment, must be regarded as disparaging to the dispen¬ 
sation of the Spirit, and to the Divine appointment 
of the diffusion of the Gospel as the medium of his 
influence. 

II. But instead of multiplying objections to a view 
which may prove on investigation to have no foundation 
in Scripture, let us, Secondly, inquire whether it can 
produce any direct warrant from the word of God. 

In applying the predictions of the Old Testament 
to the present economy, our first care should be to 
select those only which cannot possible have found 
their accomplishment in the restoration of the Jews 
from the Babylonish captivity. 

Now, confining our attention to a few of such only, 
we find that the predictions relative to the enlargement 
of the kingdom of Christ may be arranged in reference 
to the question before us, i. e. as to the means of that 
enlargement, into five classes. 

1. The first class consists of those predictions which 
simply announce the final evangelization of the earth; 
such are Psa. xxii. 27, Hab. ii. 14, and Mai. i. 11. 
But as this class is silent, except by inference, concern¬ 
ing both the agent and means by which the end pre¬ 
dicted will be attained, they leave us to pursue our 
inquiry in other quarters. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


145 


2. A second class describes the agent, but is silent 
concerning the means. Looking forward to the final 
union of Israel and Judah, the Almighty promises, 
u Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them ; 
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I 
will place them and multiply them, and will set my 
sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My 
tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their 
God, and they shall be my people.* Here, the hand 
engaged is divine, while the means to be employed are 
apparently omitted. But even supposing that the 
nature of those means could in no instance be inferred 
from a consideration of the context, we should be as 
much warranted in concluding that the changes pre¬ 
dicted would be accomplished by human instrumentality, 
as any other party would be in advocating a purely 
miraculous fulfilment. Spiritual transformations are in 
Scripture ascribed to God when they are effected by 
such means, as directly as if they were effected without 
them; and for this simple reason, that the efficient 
cause of the change is exclusively divine. u So then 
neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that 
watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” Still, 
then, we are left to look farther for a description of 
the means by which the world is to be planted and 
watered for the divine u increase.” 

3. Now the millenarian supposes that he has found 
these in a third class of Sacred Scriptures, which fore¬ 
tells a series of judgments and preternatural events, to 
be followed by permanent and universal blessedness. 
The existence of such a class we not only readily, but 
joyfully, admit. But here it is obvious to remark that 
such providential occurrences have no moral adaptation 
whatever, to renovate the minds of men; u for, if they 
believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they 
believe, though one rose from the dead.” All that 
such dispensations are appointed to effect is, as we have 

* Ezek. xxxvii. 26, 27. 

13 


146 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


already remarked, to prepare the way, under the over¬ 
ruling guidance of God, for the wider diffusion of the 
Gospel. When the river of living water, deepening 
and widening in its onward course, has reached some 
Alps or Andes, which threaten to arrest for ever its 
healing progress, Omnipotence will then say to the 
mountainous obstacle, “ Be thou removed, and be thou 
cast into the sea,” and onward the tide of life shall flow. 
So that the most stupendous events of providence must 
be regarded, even when they are charged with the 
greatest results, as only secondary and subordinate to 
the spiritual influences of the truth. 

Allowing, then, for the sake of the argument, that 
all the momentous events which are supposed by many 
to be now impending, are actually at hand,—surely, 
they are not to be spoken of by the Christian in terms 
of gloom, and deprecation. If they are to “turn out 
rather to the furtherance of the Gospel,” we ought to 
hail them with welcome, and the Church with congratu¬ 
lations. Let us not be told, for instance, with looks 
of solicitude, that the honour of converting the world 
is not designed for us, but is reserved for the restored 
and enlightened Jews. Even admitting that it is so, 
it is enough for us to know that success is not, mean¬ 
while, withheld from Gentile Christians; but that our 
usefulness is in the full proportion of our endeavours; 
and that we have scriptural reason to believe it will 
continue to be so. And if, besides this cheering fact, 
we can be certified that, great as our success is, the 
spiritual triumphs of a coming day, and of another 
people, will be incomparably greater, we “therein do 
rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” Could we now be assured 
that in India, for example, “a nation had been born 
in a day;” that great numbers of its converts were 
going “everywhere, preaching the word;” and that 
wherever they preached, more than the triumphs of 
Apostolic days were the result, would not our “joy be 
as the joy of harvest?” and if ever the period should 
come when a similar report shall be true of the Jewish 
people, will our transports be less ? “ Would to God 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


147 


that all the Lord’s people were prophets !” and would 
to God that they were so at once! “For in Christ 
Jesus there is neither Greek nor Jew.” The joy of one 
would be the joy of all. 

But, says the millenarian, the period of which you 
speak, will be introduced by appalling judgments. And 
in what age of the world, we ask, was the progress of 
religion ever unattended by such visitations ? Were the 
ancient Israelites restored from their Chaldean exile, 
and the temple rebuilt, without changing the fortunes 
of the political world ? Did the unity of the Roman 
empire, at the commencement of Christianity, provide 
for the easier circulation of the Gospel through the 
civilized world ? But how many a fair and populous 
province was subjugated in order to that unity. Did 
God design to bring the uncivilized world, soon after, 
under the influence of the Gospel ? The end was 
gained by the northern invasion, and the consequent 
breaking up of the Roman empire. And, be it remem¬ 
bered, that these are events which, though described 
by us with a stroke of the pen, filled the eye of the 
prophet with the vision of broken thrones, and his ear 
with the shriek of expiring nations; events which, when 
they occurred, threw the earth into political convulsions, 
and the history of which might be easily expanded into 
blood-stained volumes. Nor has the last fifty years 
fallen short, in eventful interest, of any equal period, 
perhaps, since time began. 

In the sacred calendar of prophecy wo may suppose 
these years to have been marked with peculiar signs. 
Europe—the world—has been in a state of volcanic 
activity. Yet, stand with Daniel on the bank of the 
river Ulai, and you will see that all these events belong 
to a series which know no pause. Stand with the seer 
of the Apocalypse “in the isle which is called Patmos,” 
and you will see that, from the very first age of Chris¬ 
tianity, seal after seal has been opened; trumpet after 
trumpet sounded; and vial after vial poured out with¬ 
out intermission; that if there has been “silence in 


148 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


heaven, about the space of half an hour,” it has been 
only the profound silence which precedes the bursting of 
a scene of stupendous interest. Speak not, then, as if 
the Almighty were about to clothe himself with judg¬ 
ment, and to arise out of his place now, for the first 
time. The solemn events which are yet to transpire 
belong to a series which began in Eden. Like the 
pillar of cloud and of fire, they only indicate the con¬ 
tinued presence of Him who, having accompanied the 
march of his cause through all the ages of past time, is 
graciously pledged to vindicate, sustain, and facilitate 
its progress through all the future; and who thus 
furnishes his people with motives to increased activity, 
and inspires them with the hope of success. 

But, says the millenarian, the events which impend 
are charged with unexampled judgments ; they contain 
the very dregs of the vials of wrath. Still, we reply, 
they are only events which harmonize with the progress 
of the Gospel, and the wants of the world ; and which 
show that providence and grace are but two depart¬ 
ments of the same universal government. For in what 
are these judgments to consist ? In the subversion of 
the Mahometan empire ? in the destruction of the man 
of sin ? in the overthrow of Antichrist, Mahometan, 
Papal, and Infidel ? in the purgation of Christendom ? 
And is this a consummation which the Christian should 
dread ? Is this a prospect which should paralyze our 
activity, or depress our expectations of usefulness ? Has 
the empire of imposture been so innoxious in its influ¬ 
ence that we shall be tender of its termination ? Has 
the mystic Babylon been so sparing of the blood of the 
saints, and so true to the interests of the Church, that 
we should deprecate the descent of the angel who is 
to u lighten the earth with his glory,” while he cries 
u mightily with a loud voice, Babylon the great is fallen, 
is fallen ?” Is the pouring out of the seventh vial on 
the air, the seat of Satan’s empire, a prospect to fill us 
with apprehension ? True, the accomplishment of these 
events may ask a larger theatre, and the arm of Provi- 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 149 

dence may take a wider sweep, than has hitherto been 
deemed requisite. For who can expect that forms of 
evil, nursed in conflict, and which have attained the 
growth of centuries, will yield the final contest, and 
retire to the pit whence they issued, without a struggle ? 
and what if that contest should enlist, on one side or the 
other, the ardent sympathies of all creation ? if the 
earth should be cleared of every minor interest till this 
is decided—what if the battle of Armageddon be fought ? 
What would it show but that the world was at length 
completely aroused from that moral torpor in which it 
has ever slumbered, and to awake it from which had 
often been the earnest endeavour of the Church ? and 
what if, on the eve of that conflict, the armies of the 
living God should find that He, on whose “head are 
many crowns,” who “hath on his vesture and on his 
thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords,” 
had led forth the armies of heaven, “on white horses, 
clothed in fine linen, white and clean,” and that they 
were actually mingling with their martial ranks, and 
already shouting of victory ? what could be the issue, 
hut glorious triumph ? What, but an ample godlike 
answer to the prayers of ten thousand times ten thou¬ 
sand saints ? to the cries and throes of the whole creation, 
till then groaning and travailing in pain together ? and is 
this a prospect to be spoken of in terms of gloom and 
sadness ? Ask we how Heaven regards it ? The vision 
has for ages filled it with Alleluias—“and the four-and- 
twenty elders,” saith John, “and the four living crea¬ 
tures, fell down, and worshipped God, that sat upon the 
throne, saying, Amen ; Alleluia. And a voice came out 
of the throne, saying, Praise our God all ye his servants, 
and ye that fear him both small and great. And I 
heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as 
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Omni¬ 
potent reignelh.”* 

* Rev. xix. 4—6. 


13* 


150 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


III. Still, the millenarian may add, Does not the very 
necessity for such a conflict, together with the character 
of the parties, and the numbers who will join in it, 
indicate that the previous diffusion of the Gospel will 
have proved, in its spiritual results, a comparative 
failure ? This, we are aware, is your inference. But 
against such a conclusion, we propose to adduce a fourth 
class of Sacred Scriptures which clearly predicts that 
the diffusion of the Word of God shall be attended 
with the most glorious results. 

4. And here we might first refer to certain prophecies 
which foretell that even during an era of great judgments 
—in one of the very crises of the world’s tribulations— 
the evangelization and salvation of mankind, so far from 
being arrested, shall proceed and triumph. “For when 
thy judgments are in the earth,” saith the prophet 
Isaiah, u the inhabitants of the world will learn right¬ 
eousness —thy heaviest inflictions will subserve thy 
purposes of mercy in the salvation of mankind. 

But let us rather direct our attention to a small selection 
of those prophecies which describe the future enlarge¬ 
ment of the Church as the result of Christian teaching. 

u And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the 
mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established in the 
top [or, as the chief,] of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills ; and all the nations shall flow 
unto it. Yea, many people shall go and say, Come, and 
let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house 
of the God of Jacob ; that he may teach us his ways, 
and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion 
shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from 
Jerusalem. And he shall arbitrate between the nations, 
and dispense justice to many people: so that they shall 
beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears 
into pruning-knives : nation shall not lift up the sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”* 

* Isaiah ii. 2—4. This passage, with slight verbal differences, is 
found also in Micah iv. 1—3. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


151 


Here the Church is represented as being central and 
accessible to the entire race, and as capable of receiving 
and accomodating a worshipping world, as the temple 
on Zion had been to the tribes of Israel. And the 
points to be particularly remarked are, that, of the 
nations thronging to it, the great mass has been influ¬ 
enced by the exhortation, “ Come, and let us go up to 
the mountain of Jehovah ;” and that the reason which 
moves the world towards this central point is, that u out 
of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah 
from Jerusalem”—that through the appointed instru¬ 
mentality of the Gospel, they hope to be made wise unto 
salvation ; while the result of that Divine teaching upon 
the great society of the nations is to be, the utter abo¬ 
lition of war, the cultivation of the arts of peace, and the 
recognition of the Divine authority as universal and 
supreme. 

On another occasion,* the prophet, having described 
the peace and happiness to be enjoyed under the reign 
of Messiah, in a strain surpassing the sublimest notes in 
which the classical poets celebrate the return of the 
golden age, adds, in explanation of the glorious change, 
“For the earth shall be full of the knowledgef of 
Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.” The universal 
diffusion of that knowledge which u is life eternal,” is 
assigned as the cause of the happy transformation. 

Now if to these bright anticipations it should be 
objected, that they will not be realized till after the 
calling and conversion of the Jews, and by their instru¬ 
mentality, we might content ourselves with replying, 
that the question pending relates not to the specific 
personal agency by which these prophecies will be ful¬ 
filled, (though even granting that the honour is reserved 
for the Jewish nation, the objector should remember 
that, according to his own supposition, the Jew will 

* Chap. xi. 9. 

f a verbal noun, construed as an infinitive; and, 

as such, denoting the mind as the seat of the knowledge, and the ac¬ 
tivity of the mind in relation to it. 


152 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


then have become a Christian, and his people an integral 
portion of the Christian Church,) but to the kind of 
instrumentality by which the world is to be evangelized. 
We will, however, proceed to show that the preaching 
of the Gospel is to be made conducive to the conversion 
of the Jews themselves. “ In that day,” saith God, 
“ will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, 
and repair the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its 
ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old ; that they 
may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen 
upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord that doeth 
this.”* * * § Now that this prediction relates partly to the 
conversion of the Jews, we have the authority of St. 
James, (Acts xv. 15—17,) “And to this .agree the 
words of the prophets ; as it is written,”!—and forth¬ 
with proceeds to quote this prophecy from Amos: 
evidently taking it for granted that the ministry of the 
Gospel would be the means employed by God for re¬ 
building the promised tabernacle—for that ministry 
was the only instrumentality which had then been 
appointed and employed for the purpose^—and only 
cites the prophecy to show that it was clearly the 
Divine design that the Gentiles thus converted, should 
be incorporated in the same Church with the Jews. 

That the vision of the valley of dry bones relates 
ultimately to times yet future, may be seen by a glance 
either at the context preceding or following.§ And it 
can hardly be necessary to show how strongly confirma¬ 
tory that vision is of the point before us. When the 
prophet had surveyed the dreary Golgotha ; and beheld 
in the withered fragments of mortality with which it 
was filled, what was, and what would be, the hopeless 

* Amos ix. 11, 12. 

f The quotation is not made literally either from the Hebrew or 
from the Septuagint, which also differs from the Hebrew, though only 
in letters of similar form. But this slight difference in no respect 
affects the question before us. 

% Acts ii. 37; xv. 7, 14. 

§ Ezek. xxxvi. 24—28; and xxxvii. 14. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


153 


condition of his people, he was commanded to prophesy 
upon these dry bones, and to say unto them, “O ye dry 
bones, hear the word of the Lord.” And having 
delivered to them that word, consisting of a promise of 
life and salvation, he is next commanded to prophesy to 
the wind, and to say, “ Tims saith the Lord God, 
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon 
these slain that they may live.” In other words, 
having preached to the politically and spiritually dead 
the glad tidings of deliverance, and invoked on them 
the vital influence of the Spirit, a moral resurrection 
ensued, which filled the valley with life and activity. 
It follows, then, that the same instrumentality will be 
made conducive to the conversion of the Jews, which 
will be employed with success for the conversion of the 
Gentiles—the ministry of the Gospel of Christ. 

Accordingly, we might specify predictions which 
contemplate the conversion of Jews and Gentiles alike, 
through this ministry; and which thus unequivocally 
foretell the coming salvation of the world. Such is the 
prediction to which we have already alluded for another 
purpose in the book of Amos. As quoted by the 
apostle James, Acts xv. 16 and 17, it evidently imports 
that the tabernacle of David is to be rebuilt expressly, 
“that the residue of men might seek the Lord.” By 
the tabernacle of David can only be intended the Chris¬ 
tian Church; for what other tabernacle had then begun 
to be reared ? and yet the apostle speaks of the fact 
stated by Peter that “some time before God had chosen” 
him as the instrument by whose “mouth the Gentiles 
should hear the word of the Gospel and believe,” as a 
convincing proof that the promised rebuilding of the 
spiritual fabric was commenced. And this Church, he 
adds, is evidently instituted for the reception and salva¬ 
tion both of Jews and Gentiles. But in what con¬ 
ceivable manner can the Church of Christ answer this 
high design, if not by the continued diffusion of the 
same blessed Gospel to Jews and Gentiles alike ? 

Such, too, is the tenor of the new covenant, Jer. 


154 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


xxxii. 31—34, u Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 
that I will make a new covenant with the house of 
Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to 
the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day 
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the 
land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although 
I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this 
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my 
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; 
and will be their God, and they shall be my people, and 
they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, 
and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord : for 
they shall all know me from the least of them unto the 
greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive 
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 
On the authority of the apostle Paul, (Heb. viii. 8—13,) 
we learn that this new covenant is the dispensation of 
the Gospel. The houses of Israel and Judah, therefore, 
to whom this dispensation is sent, cannot be supposed 
to be literally and exclusively the lineal descendants of 
Abraham, but his spiritual offspring ; for it is the pecu¬ 
liar glory of the Gospel that in contradistinction from 
the national and limited economy of the Jews, it bears 
an aspect of benignity equally to all mankind. Nor will 
any one contend that until the Gospel is known uni¬ 
versally, it will ever cease to be the duty of Christians 
to say to all around them, “ Know the Lord or that 
we have any reason to expect that the Bible will ever be 
superseded by a miraculous dispensation which shall flash 
divine illumination on the mind, and thus raise mankind 
above the use of means. The import of the prediction 
appears to be simply this, that when the reproach of 
indolence shall have been wiped away from the Church, 
and every man shall have said to his neighbour, “Know 
the Lord,” the reproach of ignorance shall be wiped 
away from the world; for the Spirit of God will so 
graciously and universally bless the means employed as 
to render their continuance comparatively unnecessary . 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


155 


So widely will the Church, aided by the providential 
interpositions of her exalted Lord, have diffused the 
knowledge of salvation, and so abundantly will the great 
renewing spirit have crowned it with success, that 
efforts to diffuse it farther will be superseded ; “for I 
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin 
no more.” This amnesty from Heaven having been 
universally preached and received, cc the earth shall be 
filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as 
the waters cover the sea.” 

5. The allusions which we have made to the agency 
of the Holy Spirit in the preceding paragraph, remind 
us of another class of predictions, in which the renova¬ 
tion of the world is ascribed prospectively to his trans¬ 
forming influence. We have just seen that the new 
covenant which engages to impart the saving knowledge 
of God, is the Gospel of Christ, and that consequently, 
the promise knows no limitation of place or people. 
But, on comparing this prediction with a parallel pro¬ 
phecy, in Ezek. xxxvi. 25—27, which declares, u Then 
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
clean ; and I will put my spirit within you and cause 
you to walk in my statutes,” we learn that the agent 
employed to carry into effect the gracious purposes of 
the Christian economy is the Holy Spirit. If the house 
of Israel is to experience a spiritual resurrection, it 
is because the Spirit, whose emblem is the wind, will 
descend on the moral Golgotha, and replenish it with 
spiritual life. If the wilderness of the Church is to 
be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field to be counted 
for a forest, it is not until the Spirit be poured upon 
us from on high. If the world is to be convinced of 
sin, the Spirit alone is appointed and adequate to the 
office. But the only medium through which he ope¬ 
rates in the discharge of his office is that of the truth ; 
on which account he is designated by Christ himself, 
“ the Spirit of truth.” The Gospel is the only weapon 
he employs in his aggressions on the territories of dark¬ 
ness, and hence it is called “the sword of the Spirit.” 


156 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


And when by the successful employment of that instru¬ 
ment, he shall have convinced the world of sin, and 
have become the great animating spirit of mankind, 
that which he has promised to write on the general 
heart is, the “ laws” of God, and the “ ways” in which 
he will cause them to walk are, in his “ statutes.” So 
that, when at length he shall be poured out upon all 
flesh, and when, as the one soul of the whole, he shall 
have led them to crown the Saviour “Lord of all,” it 
will be found that no moral conquest has ever been 
achieved but by the agency of the Spirit, and that in 
achieving it, no weapon has ever been directly employed 
but the Gospel—that, from first to last, the sword of 
the Spirit was never laid aside. 

Now we think it will be found that under one or 
other of these five classes, every prophecy relative to 
the kingdom of Christ on earth, may find an appropriate 
place. Whence it appears to follow, that, though its 
progress to the universality and glory which await it, 
may be attended by a series of providential judgments, 
that progress will be made, and that ultimate glory 
attained, by the diffusion of the Gospel directed and 
made efficient by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Let 
us “not, then, be moved away from the hope of the 
Gospel,” and expect that judgments and providential 
occurrences are to produce effects which are promised 
only to the diffusion of the word of God. That judg¬ 
ments will accompany and pioneer its march through 
the earth, as they ever have done, we freely admit. 
But they are not to be regarded as forming an order 
of means distinct from the gospel economy, and supe¬ 
rior to it. They wait on its steps. So vast is that 
economy in its sweep and design, that it includes and 
appropriates every kind of agency; presses into its 
service, as we saw in the preceding chapter, the angel 
of wrath, as well as employs the angel of mercy ; and 
lays under tribute all the revolutions of time, and all 
the dispensations of Providence. In those events, then, 
which may lead others to say, “ Lo, here is Christ 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


157 


or, u Lo, there is Christ;” and which may thus distract 
attention from present duty, and awaken hopes never 
to be realized, we are to recognize only a call to greater 
diligence, and to remember that if we would apply them 
to their proper purpose, we must study to render them 
subservient to the diffusion of his Gospel. 

We admit, also, that, at times, the progress of the 
kingdom of Christ may be too slow for our impatience, 
and may seem to postpone its consummation to a hope¬ 
less distance. But let us remember that He can afford 
to wait. Had he any occasion to doubt the issue, 
lie might be induced at times to precipitate the end. 
But “he seeth the end from the beginning”—sees it 
so clearly, and awaits it so confidently, that his patience 
emphatically announces the efficiency of his government. 

And not only do impending judgements call for the 
diligence of the Church, and proclaim the efficiency 
of the Divine administration, they indicate also the 
surpassing claims of that dispensation on whose account 
they are to be made to impend. Had the final suffi¬ 
ciency of the Gospel economy been doubtful, we may 
warrantably suppose that many of the Divine disclosures 
of coming terrors would have been graciously withheld. 
Their unreserved disclosure is a certain pledge of its 
constant progress and eventual triumph. The eye of 
faith can only behold in the awful pomp and grandeur 
of the future, the indication of its greatness, and the 
celebration of its triumphs. 

IV. Now if the conclusion to which we have come be 
scriptural, we may take it for granted that it will bear 
to be subjected to certain appropriate tests ; and that 
the result of such an ordeal can only tend to illustrate 
and confirm the truth. 

1. If it be a doctrine of prophecy, that the diffusion 
of the Gospel is to be the grand instrument in the hand 
of God for the conversion of the world, may we not 
expect that other departments of Holy Scripture will be 
found to contain allusions and statements corroborative 

14 


153 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


of the doctrine ? May we not expect, for example, 
that the apostles have left on record some indications, 
however incidental, that they interpreted ancient pro¬ 
phecy in the manner supposed ? Accordingly, we find 
that such indications actually exist. The application 
which St. James makes of the prophecy of Amos, to 
which attention has already been called, is precisely 
on this principle, and might properly be regarded as 
supplying the legitimate key to all those figurative 
predictions of the Gospel dispensation which employ 
language drawn from the Jewish economy. Had 
Isaiah predicted that Christ should “ be given for a 
light to the Gentiles ?” “ Lo, we turn to the Gentiles,” 
said Paul and Barnabas, u for so hath the Lord com¬ 
manded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of 
the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the 
ends of the earth.”* Whence we learn, first, that they 
inferred the prophecy was to be fulfilled, and the 
world to be enlightened, by the publication of the 
Gospel, for this was the only instrumentality they 
employed. And, secondly, that so coincident in their 
view was the spirit of the prophecy with the spirit of 
the apostolic commission, that they regarded the pre¬ 
diction as equivalent in meaning to a Divine command 
to preach the Gospel. 

Had the prophet Joel announced that during the 
“last days whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
Lord shall be saved ?” “ How then shall they call 

upon him in whom they have not believed ?” inquires 
the apostle Paul ;f “ and how shall they believe in 
him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall 
they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they 
preach except they be sent ?” By putting the necessity 
of preaching the gospel in this interrogatory form, he 
would impress us in the most emphatic manner that 
there is no other conceivable instrumentality by which 
the Gentiles can be saved. 


* Acts xiii. 46, 47. 


f Rom. x. 14, 15. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


159 


And, had “the voice of him that crieth in the 
wilderness” announced, “ All flesh is grass, and all the 
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; . . . 
the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word 
of our God shall stand for ever?” “This is the 
word,” says the apostle Peter,* “which by the gospel 
is preached unto you;” plainly implying that, in oppo¬ 
sition to the instability of all things human, the dis¬ 
pensation of the Gospel is to last i'or ever; and that, 
in defiance of all the hostility of earth, it is to continue 
as the great and only principle of the world’s regene¬ 
ration. Were it possible that the present economy 
should be suspended or terminated before the world 
is saved, all hope of human recovery would perish. 
Man would behold the only rock on which his hope 
can anchor sink in a shoreless and tempestuous sea. 
For amidst the ceaseless whirl and disappearance of 
every thing around him, the only ground of hope for 
the future which God himself has supplied consists, 
according to this apostle, in the sufficiency and perpe¬ 
tuity of the Gospel of Christ. 

2. May we not expect to find that the cheering 
anticipation of a world reclaimed by the sanctified 
diffusion of the Gospel would lead “holy men of God” 
to give utterance to corresponding desires in prayer ? 
The expectation is not disappointed. The psalmist 
prayed,f “ That thy way may be known upon earth, 
and thy saving health among all nations;” that the 
healing influence of Divine revelation, like a heavenly 
current of vital air, might sweep over the spiritual 
sickness of the world, and impart to it health, and 
vigour, and happiness. And as he regarded the 
knowledge of God as the only remedy of the world’s 
misery, so he appears to have taken it for granted 
that the prosperity of the Church would be marked 
by the diffusion of that knowledge, and that such 
diffusion would be attended with the most happy 


* i Pet. i. 24, 25. 


f Psa. lxvii. 


160 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


results. “God shall bless us,” he adds, “and all the 
ends of the earth shall fear him: 55 the leaven of his 
grace shall work from his Church outwards, till the 
entire mass of humanity be leavened; his kingdom 
shall extend on every side till it embraces the world. 
But the language of Christ himself on this subject 
is conclusive.* “When he saw the multitudes he 
was moved with compassion on them, because they 
fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no 
shepherd. Then saith he to his disciples, The harvest 
truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few: pray ye 
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send 
forth labourers into his harvest. 55 That this was not 
a duty binding only on those immediately addressed 
is evident, for the reason of the command is laid in 
the destitute condition of the multitudes. As long, 
therefore, as it is true that any portion of mankind 
are perishing “as sheep having no shepherd, 55 it will 
continue to be the duty of Christians to pray that 
shepherds may be provided for them. And as long as 
any disproportion remains between the vast harvest of 
souls to be gathered into the garner of Christ, and the 
number of labourers employed, it will ever be impera¬ 
tive on the Church to repeat the cry for an increase of 
Christian instrumentality. The language of Christ thus 
plainly implies, that the harvest of the world is to be 
reaped by the agency of his people; and that in pro¬ 
portion as that agency is increased under his super¬ 
intendance, will be the extent of harvest saved. 

And still more to the purpose, if possible, is the 
language of Christ in his intercessory prayer: “Neither 
pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall 
believe on me through their word ; that they all may 
be one—that the world may believe that thou has sent 
me ; 55 leaving us to the necessary inference, first, that 
the only way in which the Church is to look for additions, 
is by men being brought to believe the Gospel, for if 


* Matt. ix. 36—38. 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


161 


any are to be converted otherwise, for such the Saviour 
did not pray. And, secondly, that as often as such 
additions are made they are to unite with the great body 
of the faithful for the conversion of others, and thus to 
proceed till the world is saved. 

3. May we not expect, farther, that if the kingdom 
of Christ on % earth is to be set up by means of his de¬ 
pendent but devoted subjects, the result will be attained 
gradually as opposed to suddenly; and that, in order to 
correct and guide our expectations, scriptural intima¬ 
tions will be afforded that progressiveness will be one 
of the characteristics of the work ? Analogy, indeed, 
might lead us to expect this; for progress is one of the 
distinctive features of all the Divine operations in nature 
and providence. But here, where the agency to be 
employed is human, it appears unavoidable. For the 
eminent piety of the individual Christian, and the union 
and devotedness of the collective Church—the twofold 
element of instrumental fitness requisite forthe conversion 
of mankind—can only result from a prolonged course of 
Divine discipline. Accordingly, the various imagery 
under which the dissemination of Christianity is repre¬ 
sented in the word of God, is remarkable for the uniform 
manner in which it preserves this characteristic of pro¬ 
gressiveness. If Ezekiel beheld it in the living stream 
which flowed from the sanctuary, he saw that stream 
deepen and widen in its onward course, till u the waters 
were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be 
passed over.” If Daniel was instructed to recognize, 
in u a stone cut out without hands,” an emblem of the 
kingdom of Christ; the mysterious manner in which it 
became enlarged, and occupied province after province, 
till it “filled the whole earth,” strikingly represented the 
growth of that spiritual empire which is destined to 
u break in pieces and consume all” hostile power, and 
to t£ stand for ever.” If the Sovereign himself of that 
kingdom selects appropriate emblems of its progress, 
he finds them in the growth of the mustard-seed, and 
in the diffusive influence of the leaven. Not, indeed, 

14* 


162 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


that in its progress to perfection it will be entirely 
exempted from external shocks. Like the earthly em¬ 
pires which it is destined finally to absorb, its affairs may 
often approach a crisis which may appear to threaten 
its existence. But, true to the emblems by which our 
Lord represents it, its history will eventually exhibit 
the threefold characteristic, of original insignificance, 
constant though often imperceptible progress, crowned 
with ultimate greatness and universal power. 

4. But what appropriate test of the truth of the 
doctrine can we look for in Scripture without readily 
finding it ? Is it an express command on the subject ? 
We possess it in the final command of Christ to his 
servants, to u preach the Gospel to every creature.” Is 
it a promise of Divine assistance and success in obeying 
this command ? We have it in the promise which 
accompanies it, u Lo, I am with you always, even unto 
the end of the world,” for the context implies and re¬ 
quires a promise, not so much of protection in danger, as 
of success in the accomplishment of the object proposed; 
so that the command and promise combined may be 
regarded as the great Missionary charter of the Church 
for all time; securing to his devoted servants in every 
age, a measure of success proportioned to their zeal for 
his glory. 

V. It remains, then, in the next place, that we harmon¬ 
ize the whole with the chapters which have gone before. 
And here our course is too obvious to be mistaken. 
For, if the object of the first chapter was to unfold that 
Scripture theory of influence by which Christian is to 
be united to Christian, and Church to Church, and the 
whole to be subordinated to the agency of the Holy 
Spirit for the recovery of the world, we have seen that 
prophecy points to the same comprehensive arrangement 
for the same exalted issue. Indeed, that sublime pro¬ 
phecy of Christ which may be regarded as the sum of 
the whole of unfulfilled prediction relative to his king¬ 
dom on earth.— u ^knd I, if I be lifted up from the earth, 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


163 


will draw all men unto me”—may be regarded also as 
the sum of the theory of spiritual instrumentality. For 
not only does it predict the manner of man’s recovery, 
by the attracting and saving influence of the Cross; but 
it obviously implies that all the influences of the Church 
are to be subordinated to that central power, till all 
the agencies and powers of earth are entirely in unison 
with it. And if the object of the second chapter was 
to show that the whole tenor of Scripture command 
and example on the subject, and the entire constitution 
of the mediatorial economy, including all holy power in 
heaven and earth, form but one loud practical call on 
Christians to unreserved consecration ; we have seen 
that prophecy is only the voice of that future which is 
included in the same economy, chiming in with the 
voice of the past and the present, and calling louder 
still for the same consecration. 

Are we tempted to apprehend, for instance, that 
the Christian Church exhausted its energies in its 
first days, and can never again expect to see them 
repeated ? Prophecy points us aloft to an emblem 
of the present, and, behold, an angel comes speeding 
through the vault of heaven, having the everlasting 
Gospel to preach to all the dwellers on earth—telling 
us of facilities for its propagation yet to appear, of 
resources in the Church yet to be developed, and of 
unexampled triumphs in the world yet to be won. 
Do we entertain a fear that the hostility of the world 
will cloud our prospect and arrest our progress ? In 
the visions of prophecy we behold another mighty 
angel casting a millstone into the sea, and crying, 
u Thus Babylon is fallen, is fallen;” and another 
drying up the Euphrates of Mahometan power; and 
another, binding Apollyon himself in the chain of 
God’s decrees, and casting him down into his own 
pit. The mountain full of horses and chariots of 
fire round about Elisha, which burst on the opened 
eyes of his servant, is tameness itself compared with 
the vision of the future to which prophecy points 


164 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


the Church—all heaven marshalled and occupied in 
removing every conceivable obstacle to the free and 
universal diffusion of the Gospel of Christ. 

At no period of the past, probably, could our 
eyes have been opened to the reality of supernatural 
agency in the Church, without beholding the sublime 
spectacle of “ the angels of God ascending and descend¬ 
ing” in its service, or arrayed in its defence. But, as 
if the active share they have hitherto taken in its 
affairs were as nothing when compared with that which 
devolves on them during “the time of the end,” the 
successive scenes of Apocalyptic vision are crowded 
with their numbers and distinguished by their agency. 
Is it that as that time approaches its close, and events 
rush to their final result, they will take a more 
intense interest in the issue ? Or is it that the ranks 
of the Church triumphant will be allowed to draw 
nearer to those of the Church militant, and more fre¬ 
quently to mingle and make common cause, prepara¬ 
tory to their complete and everlasting juncture in 
heaven ? However this may be, should not the pro¬ 
phetic vision of their winged activity and flaming 
zeal, kindle the fire of a holy and consuming emula¬ 
tion in the Church below ? “A great nation,” it was 
lately said by a high political authority—“A great 
nation cannot have a little war.” The Church of 
Christ is militant; and, considering the object of its 
contest, the character of its spiritual allies and re¬ 
sources, the divinity of its Leader, and the grandeur 
of its destiny, it absorbs all the spiritual and created 
greatness of the universe; and should it be satisfied 
with a little war ? Should not every blast of the 
Apocalyptic trumpet ring through the Church as a 
summons to universal action ? and every soldier of 
the Christian army demean himself as if an angel 
fought at his side, and infinite issues were waiting 
the result ? Do we ask to look beyond the conflict, 
and see its final results ? They have been seen; and 
the eyes that gazed on them, though closing in death, 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY.. 


165 


beamed and brightened with the reflected glory. 

They have been sung; and they who sang them may 
be regarded as having lived for this as for their 

highest earthly end; and while they sang, angels have 
hushed the music of their harps to listen to the strain. 
And still it is the office of prophecy to point out 
these results to the eye of faith. But what is the 
form in which we would see them? for “in the 
visions of the Lord” they have been made to assume 
every hue of beauty, every character of greatness, 
every aspect of glory. Is it that of a stone instinct 

with life, and growing as it rolls by an invisible power, 

till it fills the earth ? Prophecy conducts us to an 
elevation where we behold that mystic stone in motion. 
Already has it attained the magnitude of a mountain, 
and attracts the eyes of the nations. Now it moves, 
and all things vibrate at its approach. Now it is 
arrested by an obstacle which appears insuperable; but 
still its base expands, and its head towers higher. 
Again it moves, and the obstacle that opposed it is 
“ground to powder.” Onwards it rolls through islands 
and continents, scattering from its sides the seeds and 
fertility of a new creation, and pouring from its bosom 
the streams of the water of life. It touches another 
province, and is resisted on the very shores. But 
vain is the opposition. After the pause of a moment 
—the falling of idols and shrines announces that it 
is again in motion. Even while we have been de¬ 
scribing its progress, it has continued to swell and 
enlarge. Like the Andes to South America, it is 
seen from every quarter; and, with the light ol an 
unsetting sun resting on its summit, and the nations 
collecting at its foot, it forms the only object of true 
sublimity the earth contains. 

Is it a temple ? Now, it is only in the course of 
erection; and we find ourselves standing amidst the 
apparent confusion of the surrounding materials; 
while many of the labourers are away preparing the 
“ living stonesand the great majority of the race 


166 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


are bowing at idolatrous shrines, and worshipping an 
unknown God. But prophecy takes us to a mount 
of vision, and, lo! the stupendous fabric, ample as 
the earth, silently rising towards heaven ; the pedi¬ 
ment placed on the columns, the edifice crowned with 
its dome, and all nations flowing unto it ! And while 
we are looking, they suddenly recover from their 
breathless admiration of its magnitude, proportions, 
and glories, to burst forth into that anthem of praise 
with which the universe and eternity are destined to 
resound. x 

Is it the achievement of a conquest, and the erec¬ 
tion of a kingdom ? u The God of heaven shall set up 
a kingdom which shall never be destroyed . 55 When we 
read the history of an earthly power we are constrained 
to admire the march of events by which it attains to 
national greatness. As its population multiplies and 
its boundaries enlarge, battles are fought, and victories 
won. Its times of excitement develop greatness of cha¬ 
racter, and that greatness of character impresses its 
image on the times. But how effectually is all this glory 
eclipsed when brought into contrast with the progress of 
the kingdom of Christ! Here the field is the world, 
while every object in it is a weapon, every being it con¬ 
tains is in action, and every issue depending is eternal. 
In this strife already kingdoms have been subverted, 
and generations have been engaged ! Who does not 
pant to gain a height whence he can look down and 
survey its progress ? To such a point does prophecy 
conduct us. Even while we look, the charge is 
sounded, and the onset made. Far and wide the con¬ 
flict rages. Banner after banner joins the foe : tribe 
after tribe comes u out to the help of the Lord, to 
the help of the Lord against the mighty.” Victory 
seems to alternate from side to side. Now the soldiers 
of the cross give way, u as when a standard-bearer 
faintethand now, raise a shout of joy as they plant 
their standard on some fallen fortress of Satan. Here, 
u the Captain of salvation” sends them unexpected sup- 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


167 


port; and there u his right hand teaches him terrible 
things.” Leading them on from u conquering to con¬ 
quer,” opposition gradually slackens ; u the armies of 
the aliens” are put to flight, or yield themselves willing 
captives. The earth with joy receives her King ; and 
his kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy em¬ 
braces the world. 

Is the aspect under which we would look on the 
results of spiritual agency that of a new creation ? 
“ He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make 
all things new.” Even now the Spirit is moving on 
the face of the human chaos. Fiat after fiat goes forth ; 
and what light breaks in on the darkness of ages ; 
what mighty masses of humanity are uplifting them¬ 
selves in solemn majesty, like primitive mountains 
rising from the deep ; what more than verdant beauty 
clothes the moral landscape; how gloriously dawns 
the sabbath of the world ! Where now is the mid¬ 
night gloom of ignorance and idolatry ? the desola¬ 
tions and misery attendant on sin ? We look, and 
listen, but no reign of darkness, no habitation of 
cruelty, no sound of anguish remains! The will of 
God is done on earth, as it is done in heaven ! The 
nations own no other law; and hence their aspect 
is that of a happy family. The Church aims at no 
other end ; and hence all her members are invested 
with the garments of salvation and the robes of praise. 
The w r orld is bathed in the light of peace, and purity, 
and love. Inanimate nature itself partakes of the 
general joy. To the eye of renewed man it exhibits 
a beauty unknown before, and to his ear it brings 
lessons of surpassing wisdom. Trees wave with glad¬ 
ness, and the floods clap their hands; the light of the 
moon is as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun 
is sevenfold. Over that scene, the morning stars sing 
together, and the sons of God shout for joy: while the 
Divine Creator himself complacently beholds it, and 
proclaims it good. 

Or, finally, would we contemplate the result of the 


163 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


whole in heaven ? Then must we take up a position 
from which vve can behold the closing scenes of time, 
and the opening grandeurs of eternity; the coming of 
Christ, the pomp and ministry of his attendant angels, 
the resurrection of the dead, the awful solemnities of 
the judgment day. With the prophet of Patmos, we 
must mark the numbers of those who go away into 
everlasting life, and learn their songs ; we must try to 
estimate their joy when they cast their crowns at the 
feet of infinite love, and to multiply its amount by 
the ages of eternity. 

True, these are visions; but they are visions painted 
by the hand of God ; dear in every age to the Church 
of God; gazed on in death by the Son of God. Yes, 
then they were brought and set before him ; and such 
was the joy with which they filled him, that he en¬ 
dured the Cross, despising the shame. He saw that 
stone advance; that temple rise; that kingdom come; 
that new creation dawn; that beatitude of the re¬ 
deemed in heaven—his grace the theme of every 
tongue, his glory the object of every eye. He saw of 
the travail of his soul, and was satisfied—his soul was 
satisfied. Even in the hour ofi its travail it was 

satisfied. What an unlimited vision of happiness must 
it have been—happiness not bounded by time, but 
filling the expanse of eternity! His prophetic eye, 
even then, caught a view of the infinite result in 
heaven. His ear caught the far distant shout of his 
redeemed and glorified Church, singing, “Worthy is 
the Lamb that was slain.” And if we would do 

justice to our office as instruments for the salvation of 
the world, if we would catch the true inspiration of 

our work, we too must often cross, as he did, the 

threshold of eternity, transport ourselves ten thou¬ 
sand ages hence into the blessedness of heaven, and 
behold the fruits of our instrumentality there, still 
adding new joy to angels, and new tides of glory 
around the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

What other practical purpose, indeed, can these 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


169 


prophetic disclosures, at present, answer ? Or to 
what higher end can they be applied ? If the progress 
of the Gospel, and its happy results, assume the ap¬ 
pearance of a mountain ever moving onwards, and 
ever growing as it moves, displacing or crushing every 
obstacle, and filling the whole earth with its presence 
—what does it say to our inactivity, but that we 
must advance along with it, or be annihilated by it ? 
And what does it say to our fears of opposition and 
failure, but that we may give them all to the wind ? 
If, for the same end, a temple rises whose courts 
include a worshipping world, and whose incense of 
praise perfumes the universe, what is the language 
in which it addresses us but that of David in the 
prospect of erecting its ancient type, “And who then 
is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the 
Lord ?” If the Church appear in conflict with the 
world, and triumphant over it, why are we allowed 
to look on the stirring scene but that we may catch 
the ardour of the Christian hero; may mark how 
certainly every one that is not for Christ is against 
him, how necessarily inactivity in his cause produces 
the effect, and receives the punishment of positive hos¬ 
tility ; may be excited to endure hardship and to 
aspire to the glorious deeds of good soldiers of Jesus 
Christ ? If the splendours of a new creation burst 
on our view, why is it but that we may feel a pang 
of solicitude for the groans and travails of the old ? 
Why but that we may remember that we are living 
during the work-days of the mighty process ; and that 
he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness 
hath issued the fiat to us, “Let your light shine before 
men; go into all the world and diffuse it?” Each 
stage of the material creation was wisely adapted to 
prepare the way for that which succeeded. All its 
unfinished parts reciprocated their influence, pointed 
to that which was to follow, and craved and tended to 
a perfect whole. Light was given to the sun to be 
dispensed ; and he fulfilled the law of his being, and 


170 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


thus prepared the way for other and higher being. Had 
he been endowed with intelligence and responsible 
power, and had he, in the exercise of that power, 
retracted his beams and refused to shine, how enor¬ 
mous the guilt, how fearful the result! In the process 
of the new creation, the darkness has passed away, 
and the light of salvation has come—light in the pre¬ 
sence of which all material splendour is eclipsed and 
disappears. That light has been given to us in a sense 
which justifies its Author in saying, “Ye are the 
light of the world;” and given to us with a solemn 
charge that we so dispense it as that the world may 
rejoice in its beams. To withhold our light, then, is 
to contract guilt of a magnitude never to be computed. 
Or if, while we are asking, “What shall the end of 
these things be ?” we are answered by the sight of num¬ 
bers without number waving their victorious palms, and 
by the voices of all these, joined by the hosts of 
the unfallen, in one stupendous concert of praise—who 
does not hear above this “sound of many waters,” 
the voice which says, “Be thou faithful unto death, 
and I will give thee a crown of life.” “ They that be 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
for ever and ever.” 

And is this the lofty practical purpose of prophecy ? 
And are these our inducements to proceed in the 
diffusion of the Gospel ? Then ought they not to be 
felt by us at this moment with as much freshness and 
force as if they had opened on us now for the first 
time ? Suppose this were literally the fact. Had 
prophetic visions, like those we have considered, never 
as yet been vouchsafed to us; had the Christian Church 
commenced its Missionary operations simply in obedi¬ 
ence to what it supposed to be the unuttered will of 
God; had it assembled by its representatives to con¬ 
sult on the propriety of continuing those operations; 
had a spirit of indolence or despondency seized it, 
and a disposition to wait for some Divine intimat^ 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


171 


before it advanced any farther; had it wrestled in 
prayer for such an intimation; and if, while its mem¬ 
bers were thus “with one accord in one place,” there 
had suddenly come “a sound from heaven as of a 
rushing mighty wind,” filling all the place; had 
Isaiah come and sung the glory of the latter days; 
had Daniel shown them the kingdom of the Messiah 
enlarging and absorbing all earthly power; had John 
recounted the scenes of Patmos; and had He who 
sent his angel there to interpret them, again ap¬ 
peared, commanding them to hasten away with his 
Gospel into all the world, promising to be always 
with them, and assuring them of “floods” of spiritual 
influence yet to be poured out upon all flesh—whose 
zeal would not kindle and burn ? Whose purpose 
would not catch a measure of Divine greatness ? 
Whose lips would not be ready to exclaim, “Here 
am I, send me ?” As if such a vision had just tran¬ 
spired, let us aim to realize its inspiring motives; and 
every Christian will be transformed, in effect, into a 
prophet, “crying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, 
make his paths straight.” 

Thus, if the first chapter explains the Scripture 
theory of Christian instrumentality, the second pre¬ 
scribes and makes it imperative ; and the third, pre¬ 
dicts and promises its triumph, in promoting the con¬ 
version of the world. If the first chapter states the 
plan by which all the holy influences of the past should 
have been collected, multiplied, and combined; the 
second exhibits and enforces the obligation of the 
present to that entire consecration which the plan 
supposes; and the third engages that such consecra¬ 
tion shall certainly issue in the erection of the king¬ 
dom of Christ. And one passage of Scripture there 
is, which, if we mistake not, virtually includes, and 
practically applies, the whole. That passage we have 
already quoted as the Divine postscript of the sacred 
volume. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. 
And let him that heareth say, Come. And let hint 


172 


CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY 


that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely.” Here are at once the 
plan by which every holy agency is combined and put 
in requisition for the recovery of man; the summons 
of the Lord of the Church himself for every new 
agency as it comes into being to join in the great 
object for which the plan exists; and—considering the 
position which the verse occupies as among the closing 
words of the Revelation—the practical application of 
all unfulfilled prophecy respecting that object. Taking 
the verse in connexion with its contexts, its practical 
power becomes even more emphatic. U I, Jesus, have 
sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the 
churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, 
and the bright and morning star.”—And as my person 
unites the wide extremes of divinity and humanity, 
my office invests me with all power in heaven and 
on earth, and my purposes of mercy require that 
angels as well as men should be employed in my service. 
Accordingly, one of them has been sent to instruct 
the churches in those mysteries of Providence whose 
accomplishment is to reach to the end of time. And, 
now, I myself appear, to close the prophecy, as I came 
to open it. Hear, then, the conclusion of the whole 
matter. I have opened a fountain of life for the 
perishing world. The Spirit and the Church—God, 
angels, and holy men, are combined, in urging the 
world to come. And as often as a single soul is 
prevailed on to obey the call, he is to consider himself 
bound, even though he can but feebly lift up his 
voice, and say, “Come;” to unite with all who are 
already employed in publishing my invitations of mercy ; 
for whosoever will is welcome to partake. Such is, 
simply, my final will ; such the practical application of 
all the predictions which my angel has now testified to 
the churches ; and such the sum of all that Scripture 
testifies on the subject, and of the means by which I 
propose to draw all men unto me. I testify, therefore, 
that if any man shall alter the words of the book of this 


ILLUSTRATED FROM PROPHECY. 


173 


prophecy, so as to disturb the legitimate and practical 
application which I thus finally and authoritatively give 
to them, I will visit him with signal marks of my most 
awful displeasure.” 

How glorious the object which induces the Saviour 
to address his Church—the salvation of the world ! 
How simple the method by which he proposes to 
accomplish it! How fearful his sacred jealousy that 
nothing should be said or done to impair its efficiency ! 
How strong the certainty implied in that jealousy that 
his end will be finally gained ! And how loud the 
summons of the whole, to every Christian, and every 
Christian church, to unite and call the world to come! 
If all the orders of the Church triumphant were per¬ 
mitted audibly to address the world, but were restricted 
to a single word, that word would be come. If all the 
invitations of the Gospel, travailing as they do with 
the burden of infinite compassion, could be condensed 
and uttered in a single word, that word would be come. 
But the Church of the day is the only organ through 
which that word can be uttered ; so that were all its 
duties in reference to the world to be expressed in a 
single term, it would be to utter the invitation come; 
and if, in uttering it, all its tongues were to become 
vocal, and each of its members could pour into it all the 
passionate and holy emotion the heart of man has ever 
known, it would only be approaching the emphasis with 
which the invitation should be uttered. As if the 
Church of the present day, then, had to retrieve the 
silence of all the past, and as if it had only a word in 
which to retrieve that silence, and a moment in 
which to utter that word, let it call, beseech, adjure, the 
world to come ; and the Spirit himself would speak in 
its tones with an infinite energy; and then, to the sub¬ 
lime announcement of Christ, u behold, I come quickly,” 
the Church would be prepared to respond with joy, 
u Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus.” 

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PART II. 


THE CLAIMS OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE ARISING 
FROM THE BENEFITS WHICH HAVE ATTENDED IT. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

Now if it be true that the Christian Church is thus 
constructed expressly to embody and diffuse the influ¬ 
ence of the Cross; and if its full efficiency for this end 
depends, under God, on the entireness of its consecra¬ 
tion to this office, we may expect to find that every page 
of its history illustrates and corroborates this truth. 

I. No law of nature can be obeyed without advan¬ 
tage to him who obeys it; nor be violated, without 
avenging itself, and vindicating its authority. The same 
is true of the laws of the Christian Church. And, 
accordingly, it might easily be shown by an induction of 
the great facts of its history , that in every age it has flour¬ 
ished or declined in proportion as it has fulfilled this 
primary object of its constitution. 

Need we repeat, for instance, that the period of its 
first and greatest activity, was the season of its greatest 
prosperity ? that it expanded without the aid of any of 
man’s favorite instrumentality, learning, eloquence, 



176 


THE HISTORY OF 


wealth, or arms ? that it achieved its triumphs in the face 
of all these ? that its progress from place to place was 
marked by the fall of idol temples, and the substitution 
of Christian sanctuaries ? and that God caused it to 
triumph in every place ? And why all this, but because 
the Church was acting in character, and fulfilling its 
office, as the representative of the Cross to the world ? 
Had we witnessed the devotedness of its first days— 
subject though it was even then to many and grievous 
deductions—had we heard only of its early history and 
triumphant progress from land to land, how naturally 
might we inquire the date when the Gospel completed 
a universal conquest ? at what precise period it was that 
India embraced the faith of Christ ? how long it was 
before China was evangelized ? whether there was not a 
year of jubilee on earth when the Gospel had been 
preached to the last of the heathens, and in what year 
the festival occurred ? Alas for the Church that these 
inquiries should sound so strange ; and alas for the 
world ! 

Need we remind the reader that the decline of 
Christian devotedness was the decline of Christian 
prosperity ? We might indeed have inferred that such 
would be the result from the known constitution of the 
Christian Church ; that if its relative efficiency depends 
on its entire consecration, the slightest diversion of its 
influence would be so much given to the very power 
which it was called into existence expressly to counter¬ 
act ; and that if that influence should come to be so 
diverted to any considerable amount, the efficiency of 
the Church would be comparatively destroyed, and itself 
be in danger of being vanquished by the counter influ¬ 
ence of the world. x\nd this, we repeat, is, substan¬ 
tially, the history of its long decline and fall. Physio¬ 
logists inform us that life radiates, or acts from the 
centre outwards; and that on ceasing to expand it 
ceases to exist. And history affirms that nations flourish 
only while they continue to enlarge their bounds; 
that the tide of national prosperity no sooner ceases 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


177 


to flow than it begins to ebb. Whether these state¬ 
ments be founded in truth or not, they may find at least 
an obvious analogy in the history of the Church. From 
the moment it lost sight of its expansive character, it 
began to lose ground to the world. The strength which 
should have been spent in conflict with foes without, 
was exhausted in fierce contentions within. When it 
ought to have been the almoner of God to the world, 
it became the great extortioner, absorbing the wealth 
of the nations. When it ought to have been the 
channel of the water of life to the world, it became a 
stagnant reservoir, in which the very element of 
life corrupted and bred u all monstrous, all prodigious 
things.” When it ought to have been the birthplace 
of souls, it was the grave of piety, so that in order 
to live it was necessary to leave it. And at the 
moment when it should have been giving law to 
public opinion, and have attained the mastery of 
the world, it was actually in alliance with it—the 
willing and accomplished agent of its vilest pur¬ 
poses. 

But as every departure of the Church from its Mis¬ 
sionary design is sure to be avenged, so we may expect 
that every return to that character will be divinely 
acknowledged and blessed. Had we no facts at hand 
to prove this, the injunctions which our Lord gave to 
the seven Asiatic churches to repeat their first works, and 
his promises of prosperity if they did so, would lead us to 
infer it; the uniformity of the Divine procedure would 
warrant us to expect it; the very return itself, imply¬ 
ing as it would a Divine influence, would be a proof of 
it. But facts are at hand. The history of the Roman 
Catholic Church demonstrates that even every apparent 
return to first principles has been, in so far, a return 
to outward prosperity; that, as Machiavel remarks, 
the kingdom of the hierarchy would have been sooner 
at an end, if the reputation of the friars for poverty and 
activity had not borne out the scandal of the excesses 
and inactivity of those above them ; that no sooner have 


178 


THE HISTORY OF 


symptoms of returning vigour appeared in one part of 
that Church, than all the vital properties which it still 
contained have moved off in that particular direction; 
that, as if conscious of owing its continued existence to 
the working parts of its body, it has recently (in 1814) 
repealed the order of Clement XIV, which restrained 
the aggressive activity of the Jesuits, and is already 
exulting in the ecclesiastical benefits arising from the 
change. And while facts demonstrate that activity will 
keep alive even a corrupt system, the history of every 
Protestant Christian Church in Christendom, during the 
last fifty years, clearly proves, that every return to 
spiritual devotedness is, in so far, a return to Divine 
prosperity. If we ascertain the measure of holy activity 
in any Church, we have ascertained the measure of 
its internal prosperity. So that a person might at 
any time safely say, Tell me which branch of the 
Christian Church is the most scripturally active and 
aggressive in its spirit, and I will tell you which is the 
most prosperous. 

Before we proceed, however, to examine and exhibit 
the advantages accruing to the Christian Church from 
its recent resumption, in part, of its original design, it 
will be proper to furnish a brief chronological sketch of 
the steps by which it has reached its present activity; 
as well as a general survey of modem Missionary 
labours. Thus prepared, we shall be the better quali¬ 
fied to enumerate and estimate the benefits with which 
those labours have been attended, both in subserving 
the temporal welfare of men, and in promoting the 
higher objects and interests of the Church. After 
which we shall endeavour to connect the whole with 
the preceding Part, and practically to apply it, by 
showing that our success has been fully proportioned 
to our efforts; that advantages have flown from our 
returning activity, which nothing else could have con¬ 
ferred ; that the one design of God in conferring that 
success, is to animate and redouble those efforts ; leaving 
us to infer that a full return in faith and prayer to the 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


179 


aggressive design of the Christian Church, would be a 
full return to its first prosperity. 

II. It is not till the eighteenth century that the era of 
Protestant Missions can be said to have commenced. 
Not indeed that the Missionary spirit had slumbered 
in the Church from the apostolic age till then. Every 
intermediate century had witnessed the diffusion off at 
least , nominal Christianity. Although as early as the 
third # century the original impulse given to the pro¬ 
gress of the Gospel had evidently declined, in the 
fourth we find Christianity existing in Persia ; become 
general in Armenia,! where it had been introduced as 
early probably as the second century ; carried from 
Armenia into Iberia; rapidly spreading throughout 
Ethiopia, whither it had been conveyed by Frumentius; 
and published, about the year 350, by Theophilus, at 
the instance of Constantine, in the south of Arabia. 
In 314, we find bishops from England present at the 
council of Arelate. How’ much earlier the Gospel had 
entered Britain, it is impossible to state-! Probably, 
as Giesler§ suggests, it was brought from Gaul early 
in the second century. Through the instrumentality of 
Ulphilas, the Visgoths now embraced Christianity; 


# About the middle of the second century, we find churches in 
Gaul at Lyons and Vienna. (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. b. v. chap. 1.) In 
Africa, Carthage was the chief seat of the new religion; where, ac¬ 
cording to Tertullian, (Apologet. Chap. 37,) its professors were so 
numerous, that to extirpate them, would be to decimate Carthage. 
In the East, at the same early period, Christianity was planted at 
Edessa. And about the year 190, according to Eusebius, (b. v. 
chap. 10,) Pantacnus went from Alexandria to proclaim the Gospel 
in India. 

f An alphabet and a translation of the Bible were introduced by 
Miesrob, about 410. 

t Those who would assign to the event an apostolic date, have 
little ground except their own wishes. That the apostle Paul visited 
England, rests on the ipse dixit of Jerome, a Latin father, of the 
fourth century. 

§ Vol. i. §’37. The authorities for the statements above, when 
the works are not specified, are derived from the Ecclesiastical His¬ 
tories by Mosheim, Giesler and Neander. 


ISO 


THE HISTORY OF 


and to him they were indebted also for an alphabet 
and a translation of the Bible. The Goths had pro¬ 
bably received the Gospel in the century preceding ; 
for in the early part of this century we find a Gothic 
bishop at the council of Nice. 

The fifth century was signalized by the nominal con¬ 
version of several of the German nations. In 432, 
Patricius, a Scotsman, induced the Irish to embrace 
Christianity. And in 496, the Franks assumed the 
Christian name; and induced the Alemani to follow 
their example. In the sixth century, Christianity was 
professedly embraced by many of the barbarous nations 
bordering on the Euxine sea ; and was more widely 
diffused among the Gauls. From about the year 565 
to 599, the Irish monk Columban laboured with con¬ 
siderable success among the Piets and in 596, Augus¬ 
tine succeeded in converting Ethelbert to the profession 
of the Christian faith ; whose example was immediately 
followed by his Anglo-Saxon subjects in Kent, and soon 
after by the other Anglo-Saxon kings of England. 

Ecclesiastical missionaries from England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, carried the Gospel, in the seventh century, 
to Batavia, Belgium, and several of the German nations. 
Traces of its extensive propagation, by the Nestorian 
Christians of Syria, Persia, and India, are also to be 
found, at this period, in the remotest regions of Asia ; 
and, if the Monumentum Syro-Synicum is genuine, it 
obtained a footing in China about the year 636. Tar¬ 
tary, parts of Germany, Friseland, and Saxony, were 
the principal additions to the domains of Christendom 
in the eighth century. In the ninth , Denmark and 
Sweden, Bulgaria, and Moravia, professed subjection 
to the faith, as well as parts of Slavoniaf and of Russia. 
From Moravia, the Gospel was carried into Bohemia. 
In the tenth century, the rays of Christian light began 

* Bede, Ecd. Hist. b. iii. chap. 4. 

f Cyril of Thessalonica, and his brother Methodius, invented the 
Slavic alphabet, and translated the Bible, and some Greek and Latin 
authors, into the Slavic tongue.—Balbini Miscell. part i. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


181 


to enter Poland; in Hungary, Christianity was made 
the national religion by a royal decree ; and in Norway 
—where it had been first introduced from England— 
it was imposed by the severest measures. From Nor¬ 
way it was carried into Iceland, the Faro and Shetland 
Islands, and even to Greenland. 

The eleventh century saw Christianity established as 
the national religion of Russia; and records its wider 
diffusion in the East. Conquest and conversion had 
now come to mean nearly the same thing; and hence, 
in the twelfth century, the political subjugation of 
Pomerania was followed by its nominal subjection to 
the Christian faith; the island of Ruegen, long the 
stronghold of heathenism, was subdued, and its in¬ 
habitants baptized; and the conquered Fins were com¬ 
pelled to submit to the same rite. The nominal Church 
was still farther enlarged, in the thirteenth century, by 
the forced submission of Prussia, Livonia, and many 
of the northern provinces; as w T ell as by the recovery 
of portions of the Saracenic territories in Spain. The 
fourteenth century was marked by the professed conver¬ 
sion of the Lithuanians, one of the last of the heathen 
nations of Europe which embraced Christianity; while 
the fifteenth was indelibly stained by the forced sub¬ 
jection of parts of the newly discovered hemisphere. 
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, Ignatius 
Loyola founded the order of the Jesuits ; one of whose 
grand objects was the propagation of Christianity among 
heathens and infidels by means of missionaries. Ac¬ 
cordingly, the missions of the Jesuits form an impor¬ 
tant part of the history of their society. Xavier led 
the way into India and Japan; and, within a very short 
period, the agents of this formidable body spread over 
South America, and penetrated into almost every part 
of Asia.* 

* Concerning other Papal Missionary institutions, it may be suffi¬ 
cient here to notice Ihe college de propaganda fide , founded at Rome, 
in 1622, by Gregory XV., and soon enriched with ample resources. 
Another college—pro fide propaganda —founded in 1627 by Urban 

16 


182 


THE HISTORY OF 


It is historically true, indeed, that many of the agents 
employed from century to century, in this wide diffu¬ 
sion of the Gospel, were men whose wisdom, piety, 
and zeal, would have adorned the apostolic age ; but 
it is notoriously known that its principal instrumentality 
consisted of worldly policy, and martial power and 
consequently that its immediate results were only terri¬ 
torial aggrandizement, and nominal submission. Ac¬ 
cordingly, as many of these conquests had been made 
by the sword, by the sword many of them were sub¬ 
sequently lost. Civilization itself, at one period, 
suffered a decline. Ages of darkness rolled over the 
Church; until Christendom, so far from being in a 
capacity to convert the world, stood itself in the most 
urgent need of substantial conversion. 

That glorious change, of which the signs and means 
had long been gathering, was the great event of the 
century, of which we are now speaking. But essential 
as the renovation of the Church was to the conversion 
of the world, the direct effect of the Reformation, pro¬ 
perly so called, was confined to the Church itself. In¬ 
deed, so far from immediately benefiting the world, its 
primary force was soon exhausted within even a small 
circle of Christendom. Nor has the line of demarcation 
between Protestantism and Popery, been materially 
moved during the two hundred and fifty years which 
have since elapsed. 

The seventeenth century was an age of Missionary 
preparation and promise. The close of the preceding 
century, indeed, had witnessed the first attempt, on the 

VIII. and very munificently endowed, appears to have been merged, 
in 1641, in the preceding institution. In 1663, Louis XIV. instituted, 
the Congregation of Priests of the Foreign Missions ; while an eccle¬ 
siastical association founded the Parisian seminary for the Missions 
abroad; and the apostolical vicars of these societies were soon found 
in Siam, Tonquin, Cochin-China, Pensia, &c. 

# This has been ably shown, as far at least as the latter part of the 
period referred to is concerned, by the Rev. Dr. John Campbell, in 
his late excellent Treatise on “Maritime Discovery and Christian 
Missions.” 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


183 


part of Protestant Christians, to make a descent on 
heathenism. The distinguished honour of making it 
belongs to the Swiss. For, in 1556, fourteen Mis¬ 
sionaries were sent by the Church of Geneva, to plant 
the Christian faith in the newly discovered regions of 
South America.* In 1559, a Missionary was sent into 
Lapland, by the celebrated Gustavus Vasa, king of 
Sweden. Early in the seventeenth century, the Dutch, 
having obtained possession of Ceylon, attempted to 
convert the natives to the Christian faith. About the 
same time, many of the Nonconformists who had set¬ 
tled in New England, began to attempt the conversion 
of the aborigines. Mayhew in 1643, and the laborious 
Eliot in 1646, devoted themselves to this apostolic 
service. In 1649, during the Protectorate of Cromwell, 
was incorporated by Act of Parliament, the u Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.” 
In 1660 the society was dissolved; but, on urgent ap¬ 
plication, was soon restored; and the celebrated Robert 
Boyle was appointed its first governor. The zeal of 
this distinguished individual for the diffusion of the 
Gospel in India and America, and among the native 
Welsh and Irish; his munificent donations for the 
translations of the Sacred Scriptures into Malay and 
Arabic, Welsh and Irish, and of Eliot’s Bible into the 
Massachusetts Indian language; as well as for the dis¬ 
tribution of Grotius de Veritate Christianas Religionis; 
and, lastly, his legacy of £5400 for the propagation of 
Christianity among the heathens, entitle him to distinct 
attention. In 1698 was instituted the u Society for 
promoting Christian Knowledge ;” whose objects com¬ 
prise, to a certain extent, the labours of Missionaries. 
Its Missions, chiefly in the East, are subsequently asso¬ 
ciated with such names as Ziegenbalg, Gericke, and 
Swartz. And besides these incipient efforts to diffuse 
the Gospel, glowing sentiments on the subject are to 

* Picteti Orat. de Tropheeis Christ! in Fabricii Lux Salutaris Evan- 
gelii, &c., p. 586. 


184 


THE HISTORY OF 


be found scattered through the sermons and epistolary 
correspondence of the age, which show that many a 
Christian heart was labouring and swelling with the 
desire of greater things than these. Still the century 
closed with witnessing little more than individual and 
unsustained endeavours. Had they been all suddenly 
arrested, only a very feeble call would have been made 
for their resumption. Like the repeated flights of the 
dove of the deluge, they served to show that there was 
shut up within the ark of the Church a principle of 
activity impatient to be free, and which promised, when 
opportunity served, to traverse the globe. 

The eighteenth century began to fulfill that promise, 
and may be denominated the age of Missionary associa¬ 
tion. In 1701, the “Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in Foreign Parts,” was chartered ; having 
in view exclusively the benefit of our plantations, and 
colonial possessions. In 1705, Frederic the Fourth, 
king of Denmark, was induced, by one of his chaplains, 
to send two Missionaries to Tranquebar, on the coast 
of Coromandel. One of these, Ziegenbalg, may be 
considered almost as the parent of the Eastern Missions. 
The society in Scotland for “Propagating Christian 
Knowledge,” was instituted at Edinburgh in 1709. 
The philosophic Dr. Berkeley, then Dean of Derry, 
published his noble proposal for the erection of a 
college in the Bermudas, with a view to the conversion 
of the American Indians; a plan in the prosecution of 
which he displayed a degree of self-denial, generosity, 
and devotedness, rarely equalled. The persevering 
Egede sailed from Bergen in 1721, for the coast of 
Greenland. Influenced partly by seeing at Copenhagen 
two Greenlanders who had been baptized by Egede, 
the persecuted Moravians commenced a Mission to the 
same country in 1741. To their everlasting honour, 
and to the deep disgrace of the rest of the Christian 
community, it is to be remembered, that when they 
sent out their first Missionaries, their entire congrega¬ 
tion did not exceed six hundred persons; and that of 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


185 


these the greater part were suffering exiles. Yet so 
noble and extensive were the exertions which they 
made for the evangelization of the heathen, and so 
abundantly were their unostentatious endeavours blessed 
by the great Head of the Church, that within the short 
period of ten years their heralds had proclaimed salva¬ 
tion in Greenland, St. Croix, Surinam, and Rio de 
Berbice; to the Indians of North America, and to the 
negroes of South Carolina; in Lapland, Tartary, and 
Algiers, in Guinea, the Cape of Good Hope, and 
Ceylon. 

Brainerd entered the field of Missionary labour in 
1743. In the year 1784, at a Baptist Association held 
at Nottingham, it was determined that one hour on the 
first Monday evening of every month, should be de¬ 
voted to solemn and special intercession for the revival 
of genuine religion, and for the extension of the king¬ 
dom of Christ throughout the world ; hence the origin 
of Monthly Missionary Prayer Meetings. Wesleyan 
Methodism, being strictly missionary in its character, 
extended its operations to the West Indies in 17S6. 
The u Baptist Missionary Society” was organized in 
1792. The u London Missionary Society,” on the 
principle of embracing all denominations, arose in 1795. 
The year following, the u Edinburgh Missionary So¬ 
ciety” was instituted. And in 1801 arose the u Church 
Missionary Society.” 

From this brief outline, the progress of Christian 
association for Missionary purposes during the last cen¬ 
tury is obvious. Not only were societies organized to 
send forth and to sustain the Missionary of the Cross ; 
but, unlike several preceding organizations, they were 
instituted for this object alone. While, among the hap¬ 
piest signs which accompanied their formation, it may 
be remarked, that Missionary information began to be 
regularly circulated in periodicals ; that sermons began 
to be addressed to large and interested audiences, ex¬ 
clusively on the obligations of Christians to diffuse the 
Gospel; that the people generally responded to the call 

16* 


136 


THE HISTORY OF 


by their willing contributions ; and, especially, that thou¬ 
sands of them met at stated times to implore the influ¬ 
ence of the Holy Spirit on the new field of Missionary 
labour ;—signs which indicated the approach of yet 
further association, and of greater enterprise, for the 
recovery of man. 

The Missionary character which will belong to the 
nineteenth century remains to be seen ; for one half 
of its sands have not yet run out. Were we required, 
however, to give a descriptive name to that portion 
of it which has elapsed, we should unhesitatingly 
denominate it the age of general Christian association 
for the Missionary enterprise. The union of Christians 
for this great object has yet to become universal ; but 
the interest felt in it now, compared numerically 
with that which existed at the close of the last cen¬ 
tury, may be said to be general. The object could 
not be suddenly withdrawn from the Christian world 
now, without occasioning a sensation of dismay which 
would thrill through the entire community, and which 
would raise the cry of tens of thousands for its re¬ 
turn. Its presence has taken the rank of a new 
power ; and its absence would be felt as a great gene¬ 
ral want. 

The correctness of this representation will be seen 
from a further enumeration of the societies which the 
Missionary enterprise has originated. The <c Glasgow 
Missionary Society” commenced its operations soon 
after the establishment of the London Society. In 
180S, was organized u The Society for Promoting 
Christianity among the Jews.” In 1816, a Mission¬ 
ary Seminary was established at Basle ; the interest 
in which continuing to increase till 1821, the u Ger¬ 
man Missionary” Society was then formed, or, as it 
is sometimes called, the u Evangelical Missionary So¬ 
ciety.” In 1816, also, was formed the “ General 
Baptist Missionary Society,” in distinction from that 
of the Particular Baptist body, of 1792. As early 
as 1799 a Missionary spirit was awakened in various 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


187 


parts of Germany ; in consequence of which, first 
Elberfield, and then Barmen, originated societies for 
the contribution of funds to Missionary and kindred 
institutions. In 1828, these societies united, and hav¬ 
ing been since joined by the Societies of Cologne 
and Wesel, they together form the “ Rhenish Mission¬ 
ary Society.” About this time also the u Netherland 
Missionary Society” commenced operations, and was 
associated with the name of the enterprising GutzlafF. 
And in 1822, was organized the u French Protestant 
Missionary Society.” Nor should it be omitted, that 
the claims of the heathen to Christian instruction have 
so far attracted the attention of the Society of Friends, 
that they have commenced a solitary mission to Wes¬ 
tern Africa. 

The Missionary Societies of x4merica demand dis¬ 
tinct regard. The land of the Mayhews and of Eliot, 
of Brainerd and of Sergeant, could never be entirely 
lost to the cause of Missions while their names con¬ 
tinued to be revered, and their journals to be read. 
It was not however till the inspiring accounts of a 
Carey, a Vanderkemp, and a Buchanan, had been ex¬ 
tensively circulated, that American piety became di¬ 
vinely awakened to its claims. With that awakening, 
the names of Mills, Judson, and their coadjutors, stand 
vitally connected. On these youthful students in di¬ 
vinity, the Missionary spirit had eminently rested ; and, 
having presented a memorial on the subject of Mis¬ 
sions to the General Association of the Ministers of 
Massachusetts in 1810, u The American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions” was formed the 
same year ; and, in the year following, sailed the first 
Mission sent from America to any foreign heathen land. 
In 1814 was formed the u American Baptist Board of 
Foreign Missions.” The u American Methodist Epis¬ 
copal Missionary Society” followed in 1819. In the 
year ensuing, the “ Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
United States,” commenced its operations, and in 1831, 


188 


THE HISTORY OF 


the Presbyterian Church instituted the u Western For¬ 
eign Missionary Society.” 

III. Now in marking the principal circumstances 
which have accompanied this rapid accumulation of Mis¬ 
sionary organization within the last forty years, and 
which may be said to divide its brief history into impor¬ 
tant epochs, we may notice :— 

1. The formation of the Tract Society in 1799, 
and the origin of the Bible Society in 1804 ;—insti¬ 
tutions which have proved the right arm of Missionary 
activity, and increased its means of usefulness to a 
very considerable extent. 2. An important era for 
Missions arrived when the fact was practically and 
openly admitted, that no sect or denomination of 
Christians can sustain a reputation for Christian con¬ 
sistency without labouring to extend the Gospel to 
pagan lands. 3. The accession of the American 
Churches to the Missionary enterprise was another 
and a glorious stage in its progress. 4. But if the 
adhesion of Christians to this object in their denomi¬ 
nations and larger divisions, was important, equally 
important was it to be able to announce that the 
Missionary spirit had descended to the individual 
members of the particular churches and congregations 
of which these denominations are composed ; and had 
created for itself a deep, general, and permanent 
interest, in the mass. 5. The formation of branch 
and auxiliary societies, by which the cause of missions 
becomes located among a people, draws them gradually 
within the circle of its action, and lays all the piety 
which may exist among them under contribution for 
its advancement, is to be marked as another leading 
event. 6. The conviction which has now generally 
obtained that the Missionary service deserves the con¬ 
secration of the greatest talent, and the most marked 
wisdom and piety which the churches can supply, is 
a distinct indication of another stage in the progress 
which that service is making in public opinion, and 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


189 


. \ 

is full of promise as to the character of its future 
agency. 7. Another era in its history was the employ¬ 
ment of native agency, and the project of instituting 
colleges abroad with an ultimate view to the education 
of that agency for more efficient service. If we are 
not intending to furnish the nations with an adequate 
supply of stated preaching from our own land, and 
for generations to come, the heathen must be rendered 
independent of Christendom for their religious in¬ 
structors as soon as possible. And in no other way 
can this be done than by taking the necessary steps 
for raising up a native ministerial agency. S. And 
another important step in the progress of Missions 
is the conviction which is beginning to obtain, not 
only that the Christian Church must be brought to 
look more closely and practically at the object of 
evangelizing the earth, but that for this end it must 
act on a system. The more vast its projects, the 
greater the necessity of a fixedness of design, and a 
steady adaptation of means to the end. On this prin¬ 
ciple it is that an American Missionary Society has 
lately presented the outline of a plan for its own 
operations, the filling up of which, under the Divine 
sanction, will plant four or five hundred stations in 
the more eligible parts of Africa and Asia, as well 
as thirty or forty theological seminaries, and require 
about twelve hundred ordained missionaries, and three 
hundred laymen as physicians, printers, and teachers. 
Thus the most enlarged desires are beginning to assume 
that distinctness of plan which is essential to their wise 
and steady prosecution. 

IV. The following table contains a statistical survey 
of our principal Missionary Societies, arranged alpha¬ 
betically,* and of their present operations. Other 
Societies exist of a strictly Missionary character ; but 
they are not here introduced, not because they are not 

* Where a dotted line occurs in the table, it denotes that the results 
under that head, if there are any, have not been ascertained. 


190 


THE HISTORY OF 


equally meritorious with those named, but because they 
do not directly contemplate the conversion of the 
heathen. Such are the Colonial Missionary Society ; 
the European Society for aiding the diffusion of evan¬ 
gelical Christianity on the continent of Europe ; and 
the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in 
the East. 

From this survey, and from other inquiries made by 
the writer, but to which the replies have not been 
sufficiently definite to justify insertion, it will be seen 
that there exist at present, in Britain and America, 
about* fourteen Missionary Societies ; of which, seven 
may be denominated first-rate ; the remaining seven, 
w T ere they blended into one, would not much more than 
equal a single Society of the former class. 

That the annual income of these Societies amounts 
to about £505,000 ; of which, about £400,000 are 
contributed by British Christians, and the remainder by 
the Christians of America. 

That the number of Missionaries at present in the 
field of labour, is about fifteen hundred ; and that these 
Missionaries occupy about twelve hundred principal or 
central stations. 

That at these stations are to be found, in subordinate 
co-operation with the ordained Missionaries from Bri¬ 
tain and America, about five thousand native and other 
salaried teachers, catechists, readers, helpers, and assist¬ 
ants of various kinds, engaged in the offices of educa¬ 
tion and religious instruction. That about fifty of these 
stations have printing establishments. 

And that all the Missions combined, exhibit about 
180,000 converts in Christian communion; and about 
200,000 children and adults belonging to their schools. 

* Of course, these figures claim to be regarded only as an ap¬ 
proximation to the truth. Even the income of one Society as com¬ 
pared with that of another, is to be understood with this qualifica¬ 
tion, that one Society includes in its general accounts, the pecuniary 
support which it receives for a particular field of labour; for the 
prosecution of which, perhaps, another Christian denomination 
maintains a distinct Society. In this summary the three continental 
Societies are omitted. 


I 

Names. 

> 

Date of 

Formation . 

Countries occupied. 

Central , or 

Principal Stations 

Ordained 

Missionaries. 

Native Teachers. 

Members, or 

Communicants. 

Schools. 

Scholars. 

Printing 

Establishments. 

Translations. 

Colleges. 

Year. 

Receipts. 

i American Board of ) 

/ Foreign Missions... $ 

1810 

( Africa, Asia. Ind. Ar- 
^ chipelago, N. Pacif-> 

( ic, & N. A. Indians ) 

86 

140 

138 

19,742 

524 

24,529 

15 

In 23 languages. 

1 

1841 

£48,492 

.. 3235,189 

; AmericanBaptistBoard ) 

j See . \ 

ISM 

( Burmah.Siam, China, 

< Hindostan,W.Africa, V 
( &c.,Europe, Am.Ind. ) 

SO 

46 

102 

2,931 

44 

872 

6 

( Scriptures, ) 

( Tracts, &c.) 

•• 

1841 

17,723 

.. 85,960 



( Greece, Crete, Con- ) 










1841 



5 American Episcopal.... 

1820 

< stantinoplo, China, > 

( W. Africa, Texas.. ) 

12 

11 

17 

• • • • 

* * 

.... 

* * 


" 

6,291 

.. 30,514 


\ 


( Africa, Brazil, Buenos 1 


90 







1 

1841 

§25,020 


? Arner. Ep. Methodists.. 

1819 

< Ayres, Texas, Ore- > 

( gon, N. A. Indians ; 

. . 

•• 

.... 

•• - 

.... 

•• 

( Tracts, Hymns ) 

.. 121,350 



inc. tea¬ 
chers, &c 










< 


l 


( Am. Indians, Texas, ) 


23 

8 







1841 



I American Presbyterian. 

1831 

2 W. Africa, China, ^ 

( Siam, India.) 

11 

.... 

* * 

.... 

* * 

.... 

* * 

10,237 

.. 49,649 





1792 

(India, Africa, West) 

157* 

72 

127 

30,000 

180 

18,000 

2 

( Scriptures, See., ) 

< into forty lan- [ 

( guages.) 

2 

1841 

26,656 

.. 129,281 


( Indies, &c.) 









1816 


7 

11 

6 


6 


2 

Scriptures and Tracts 

1 

1841 

1,600 

7,760 











' Church (ofEngland).... 

1801 

( Africa, the East, and ) 

( America.$ 

97 

103 

986 

4,603 

696 

35 ; 396 

3 

( Scriptures and ) 

< Tracts in fif- > 

2 

1841 

101,576 

.. 492,643 









( teen languages) 





i Church (of Scotland) ... 

1829 


4 

5 

11 


12 





1841 

7,000 

. 33,950 










1822 

1821 











1838 

2 436 

.. 11,814 

.. 21,946 

. 











1838 

4,525 


( India, West Indies, ) 

7 South Africa, South / 

( Sea Islands, &c.... ) 








( Scriptures, } 







1795 

387 

163 

523 

11,435 


4,222 

15 

1 

1841 

80,100 

.. 388,485 







( Tracts, &c.) 



( Propagation of theGos-) 

| pel.) 

1701 

(India, Africa, Austra- ) 

( lia, &c .. ) 

287 

245 


.... 

•• 

.... 

•• 

.... 

1 

1341 

78,651 

.. 381,457 


1825 

1796 

1741 











1834 

4,740 

2,805 

10,651 




5 

5 


1,837 

12 

2,000 

6,070 




1841 

IS41 

.. 13,604 

.. 51,657 

f United Brethren (or,) 

< Moravians,.) 

C W. Indies, N. and S. ) 

■] Labrador,Greenland > 

56 

256f 

.. 

17,606 


(Scriptures, &c., ) 

< into six lan > 

# # 

















1817 

( Europe, the East, Af-) 
l rica, Sc N. America ) 

26 

367 

2361 

84,234 

300 

56,849 

7 

(Scriptures, &c.,) 

< into fourteen > 


1S41 

90,182 

.. 437,382 
















( languages.; 






* The very unequal results exhibited under the head of “ Principal Stations/” show jdiat the phrase is differently understood by different Societies; some adopting the principle of cen- 
tralization much more generally than others. t This includes the wives of missionaries. The exact number ordained not known. 1 Commenced Missionary operations in 1786. 

ttjr" The statistics for the American Missions have been made to conform to the latest reports of the several Societies, and the total receipts in our own currency have been added, for 
the American edition. (Basis, $4,85 the x) * Anis embraces both Foreign and Domestic Missions. * 






































































’ 1 ^ 

■ 






• * 









; . -' • • , '* v ~ ■ 






■ - 

* . * • . , * 








. » ■ * • . • ■ ' ■ 



1 

' • 

* ' I 























CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


191 


The only remark which it would here be in place to 
add, is, that these results have been attained gradually ; 
that, taking the collected reports of all the Missionary 
Societies for any given year, they will be found to 
exhibit an advance on the reports of the year preceding ; 
leaving us to indulge the hope that by the same blessing 
by which they have been progressively brought to their 
present state of enlargement, they will continue to re¬ 
port an annual increase of resources, activity, and use¬ 
fulness, for an indefinite number of years to come. 
The practical benefits arising from Missionary labours 
will next become the subject of distinct consideration. 


I 


CHAPTER II. 


ADVANTAGES RESULTING TO THE HEATHEN FROM THE MISSIONARY 

ENTERPRISE. 


SECTION I. 

TEMPORAL BENEFITS. 

At the commencement of the preceding chapter we 
remarked, that such are the gracious arrangements 
and promises of God, that every return of the Church 
to its Missionary design, entitles it to hope for cor¬ 
responding prosperity. Having taken a general survey 
of the manner in which Christians have recently resum¬ 
ed their Missionary vocation, we are the better prepar¬ 
ed to look after the expected results of their activity. 

And here, the first fact which meets us on opening 
the inquiry is, that, independently of the direct and 
spiritual benefits at which we aimed, a host of minor 
hut magnificent temporal advantages have been gained, 
and which alone would have amply repaid all the cost 
of the Missionary effort. This is, as if in attempting 
to estimate the benefits of the Saviour’s Mission, a 
contemporaneous inquirer, who had only heard of him 
as a Teacher sent from God, and had only thought of 
spiritual results, should have had to make his way to 
those results through the thronging and grateful ranks 


I 



TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 193 

of those who had been healed, and who insisted on 
presenting themselves first, as a part of the fruits of 
that Mission. And, indeed, what was the character of 
Christ, but the character of his dispensation ? and what 
was the design of his Divine Mission, but that it should 
be the source and type of all the good attending the 
march of his Gospel through the earth ? 

Accordingly, we find, that even where Christianity 
has, for obvious reasons, produced but slender spiritual 
results, the inferior benefits which it has scattered, have 
rendered its progress through the nations as traceable 
as the overflowing of the Nile is by the rich deposit 
and consequent fertility which it leaves behind.* This 
is a well-known subject of devout exultation in many 
of the inspired epistles. The apologies of the Fathers 
prove it ; and the records of profane history, uninten¬ 
tionally, but abundantly, confirm it. Every city which 
the Gospel visited, presents itself in proof of its cor¬ 
rective influence ; and every nation we enumerated in 
the preceding chapter, stands forward as a witness to 
the same effect. It produced charity even in Judea, 
humility at Athens, chastity at Corinth, and humanity 
at Rome—cleansing her imperial amphitheatre of hu¬ 
man blood, and evincing that her boasted civilization had 
been only a splendid barbarism. Softened by its influ¬ 
ence, the Armenian, says Jerome, lays down his quiver, 
the Huns learn to sing the praises of God, the coldness 
of Scythia is warmed by the glow of faith, and the armies 
of the Goths carry about tents for churches.f Theo¬ 
dosius and Justinian took much of their codes from its 
inspired lips ; and thus, the Gospel may be said to 
have read laws to the Visigoths and Burgundians, the 
Franks and Saxons, Lombards and Sicilians. On the 
Irish, as well as on many other nations, it bestowed a 
written language; and made Ireland, for centuries, the 
university of Europe. It raised the German barbarian 

* Vide Ryan’s Effects of Religion on Mankind, passim. 

I Epist. lvii. 


17 


194 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


into a man; and elevated the wandering hordes of the 
Saxons, Marchomani, and Bohemians, into civilized 
communities. It approached the Dane, and he forgot 
his piratical habits ; and the Swede and the Norwegian 
stayed within their own boundaries, and ceased to be 
a general terror. It called the Russians, Silesians, and 
Poles, to take rank among the nations ; won the Livo¬ 
nians and Portuguese from their idols ; and taught the 
Lithuanians a worship superior to that of reptiles, or of 
the sun. 

Virtue went out of it in every age, and wherever it 
came. The Roman empire was rushing to ruin ; the 
Gospel arrested its descent, and broke its fall. Nearly 
all the nations of Europe which we have named, were 
sitting at a feast on human flesh, or immolating human 
victims to their gods ; it called them away from the 
horrid repast, and extinguished their unholy fires. The 
northern invasion poured a new world of barbarism 
over Christian lands ; the spirit of Christianity brooded 
over the chaotic mass, and gradually gave to it the 
forms of civilizedjife. Where it could not sheathe the 
sword of war, it at least, humanized the dreadful art. 
It found the servant a slave, and broke his chains. It 
found the poor—the mass of mankind—trampled under 
foot ; and it taught them to stand erect, by addressing 
whatever is Divine in their degraded nature. It found 
woman—one half of the species—in the dust ; and it 
extended its protecting arm to her weakness, and raised, 
and placed her by the side of man. Sickly infancy, 
and infirm old age, were cast out to perish ; it passed 
by, and bade them live ; preparing for each a home, and 
becoming the tender nurse of both. 

Yes, Christianity found the heathen world without 
a single house of mercy. # Search the Byzantine 

* There is ground to believe that the provision by some of the Greek 
states for those wounded, and for the children of those slain in battle, 
flowed from martial policy alone ; and that the Valetudinarium of the 
Romans was only an infirmary for the sick servants and slaves of a 
great family. Si quis sauciatus in opere noxam ceperit, in valetudinari¬ 
um deducatur. —Col. xi. 1. Conf. Sen. Epist. 27. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


195 


Chronicles, and the pages of Publius Victor ; and, 
though the one describes all the public edifices of 
ancient Constantinople, and the other of ancient Rome, 
not a word is to be found in either, of a charitable insti¬ 
tution. Search the ancient marbles in your museums; 
descend and ransack the graves of Herculaneum and 
Pompeii ; and question the many travellers who have 
visited the ruined cities of Greece and Rome ; and see, 
if amidst all the splendid remains of statues and amphi¬ 
theatres, baths and granaries, temples, aqueducts, and 
palaces, mausoleums, columns, and triumphal arches, 
a single fragment or inscription can be found u telling 
us that it belonged to a refuge for human want, or for 
the alleviation of human misery.” The first voluntary 
and public collection ever known to have been made in 
the heathen world for a charitable object, was made by 
the churches of Macedonia, for the poor saints in Jeru¬ 
salem. The first individual known to have built an 
hospital for the poor, was a Christian widow. Search 
the lexicons for interpreting the ancient Greek authors ; 
and you will not find even the names which Divine 
Christianity wanted by which to designate her houses of 
charity—she had to invent them. Language had never 
been called on to embody such conceptions of mercy. 
All the asylums of the earth belong to her. 

And, be it remembered, that Christianity has ac¬ 
complished much of this, under circumstances the 
most unfriendly to success. As yet it has had but 
a very limited influence even in what are denominated 
Christian countries. Rut yet, while bleeding herself 
at a thousand pores, she has saved whole tribes 
from extermination, and comparatively stanched the 
flow of human blood. Though a prisoner herself, 
and walking in chains, she has yet gone through the 
nations, proclaiming liberty to the captive, and tho 
opening of the prison to them that are bound. Even 
when popery had converted her creed into a libel on 
her name, it yet contained truths which eclipsed the 
wisdom of Greece, and which consigned the my- 


196 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


thology of Rome to the amusement and ridicule of 
childhood. Even there where her character was most 
misunderstood, so high had she raised the standard of 
morals, that Socrates, the boast of Greece, would 
have been deemed impure; and Titus, the darling of 
Rome and of mankind, would have been denounced 
as a monster of cruelty. When disfigured to a degree 
which would have made it difficult for her great apostle 
to have recognized her, yet, like him, she went about 
“as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, 
and yet possessing all things. ” Herself the victim of 
universal selfishness, she yet left on every shore which 
she visited everlasting monuments that she had been 
there, in the hospitals and edifices of charity which 
lifted up their heads, and in the emollient influences 
which stole over the heart of society. 

We are warranted in affirming, then, that as far as 
the temporal welfare of man is concerned, the history 
of the past demonstrates that even the worst form of 
Christianity is preferable to the very best form which 
heathenism ever .knew. Who has not heard, for in¬ 
stance, of the atrocities which men called Christians 
committed in her abused name in South America ? 
Yet even there, though her pretended priesthood was 
an army, and though they hewed their path with the 
sword, her humanizing influence was quickly felt. No 
longer are wives buried with their deceased husbands 
in Congo; nor do the aborigines of Florida quench 
the supposed thirst of their idol with human blood. 
At Metamba they no longer put the sick to death; 
nor sacrifice human victims at funerals in Angola. 
No longer do the inhabitants of New Spain offer the 
hearts of men in sacrifice, nor drown their children 
in a lake to keep company with the idol supposed to 
reside within it. 

But why do we speak of other lands ? Britain 
itself owes every thing, under God, to the influence 
of the Gospel. The cruelties of Rome did not 
humanize, nor the northern superstitions enlighten 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


197 


us. The Missionary who first trod our shores, found 
himself standing in the very temple of Druidism.- 
And wherever he turned, he heard the din of its 
noisy festivals, saw the obscenity of its lascivious rites, 
and beheld its animal and human victims. But Chris¬ 
tianity had marked the island for its own. And al¬ 
though its lofty purposes are yet far from being worked 
out on us, from that eventful moment to the present, 
the various parts of the social system have been ris¬ 
ing together. Even when most at rest, its influence 
has been silently penetrating the depths of society. 
When most enfeebled and corrupted itself, its authority 
has been checking the progress of social corruption, 
rendering law more protective, and power more right¬ 
eous. When most disguised and repressed, its wisdom 
has been modifying our philosophy, and teaching a 
loftier system of its own. A Howard, sounding and 
circumnavigating the ocean of human misery, is only 
an obedient agent of its philanthropy. A Clarkson 
and a Wilberforce, have only given utterance to its 
tender and righteous appeals for the slave. A Raikes, 
a Bell, and a Lancaster, have simply remembered 
its long neglected injunction, “ Suffer little children 
to come unto me.” While all its Sabbaths, Bibles, 
and direct evangelical ministrations, are only the appro¬ 
priate instrumentality by which it has ever been seek¬ 
ing to become the power of God to our salvation, and 
preparing us for the office to which Providence is now 
distinctly calling us, to be the Christian ministers and 
Missionaries of mankind. 

To have predicted, then, at the commencement of 
modem Missions, that the diffusion of the Gospel would 
be attended with the diffusion, of at least, temporal 
good, would only have been making the past the pro¬ 
phet of the future. Let us proceed to inquire how 
far such a prediction would have been verified by ac¬ 
tual results. 

1. Judging from the costly price at which civilized 
17* 


198 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


nations have purchased distinction, it would seem that 
it is no small advantage to be known. Now there are 
some tribes of the human family which are indebted 
to Christian Missions for their discovery. The first 
vessel known to have visited the islands of Mitiaro, 
Mauke, and Rarotonga was steered by a Missionary 
of the Cross. While other islands, though discovered, 
had not been visited, or though visited had remained 
almost entirely unknown, until sought out by Chris¬ 
tian perseverance and compassion. So that, hereafter, 
when they shall have acquired historical importance, 
they will have to record that they were called from 
their original obscurity by the servants of Him who 
came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

2. As the primary object of the Christian Mis¬ 
sionary is to bring the heathens, to whom he is sent, 
under the influence of the Gospel, it is important 
that if they have been accustomed to roam from 
place to place they should renounce their wandering 
habits , and adopt a settled abode. And, hence, one 
of the first and necessary consequences of a desire to 
hear a u man of God,” is, a disposition to locate them¬ 
selves in his vicinity. This is the first step of their 
transition from a horde of the wilderness to a civi¬ 
lized community. But this has been the almost uni¬ 
form effect of the introduction of the Gospel among 
such a people. Who does not here think of the 
dwellings of Nonanetum rising around Eliot in the 
wilderness ? of the twelve Indian villages of Zeis- 
berger ? of Brainerd’s Indians coming from the far- 
off forks of the Delaware to his beloved Cross week- 
sung ; killing a supply of deer that they might be 
able to listen to him for days together without inter¬ 
ruption ; and then “building themselves little cottages” 
up to “ his own door ?” and of the Esquimaux coming 
from Okkak, as far as to the Moravian settlement at 
Hopedale ? “ where,” said the Missionary, u our con¬ 
gregations are blooming like a beautiful rose.” Not 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


199 


more certainly was the erection of the tabernacle 
in the wilderness a signal for the Israelites to pitch 
their tents around it, than the successful introduction 
of the Gospel among a roving and uncivilized tribe 
has led to their settlement. The North American 
Indian emerging from his filthy wigwam, the Green¬ 
lander leaving his burrow in the snow—compared 
with which the den of the bear itself is inoffensive— 
and the Hottentot coming in from the bush, have 
alike proceeded to prepare for themselves comfortable 
abodes. The New Zealander may be seen making 
bricks, and the South Sea Islander burning lime, for 
the erection of a house. “ The traveller through 
the Cherokee settlements,” says the Report of the 
Methodist Episcopal Mission in America for 1835, 
u observing cottages erected, regular towns build¬ 
ing, farms cultivated, the Sabbath regularly kept, 
and almost an entire change in the character and pur¬ 
suits of the people, is ready to ask with surprise, 
c Whence this mighty change ?’ Our only answer is, 
Such is the effect of the Gospel. Here is a nation 
at our door, our neighbours, of late remarkable for 
their ferocity and ignorance, now giving the most strik¬ 
ing evidence of the utility of Missionary exertions.” 

And u instead of their [the South Sea Islanders] 
little contemptible huts along the sea-beach, there will 
be seen a neat settlement, with a large chapel in the 
centre, capable of containing one or two thousand people ; 
a school-house on the one side, and the chiePs, or the 
Missionary’s house on the other, and a range of white 
cottages, a mile or two long, peeping at you from under 
the splendid banana trees, or the bread fruit groves, 
so that their comfort is increased, and their character 
is elevated.”* 

3. But when the wanderers of the wilderness or of 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, before a Committee of the House 
of Commons in 1833-5, p. 307. 


200 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


the plain become localized, their erection of perma¬ 
nent dwellings supposes many a previous step of in¬ 
struction and improvement ; their new condition en¬ 
tails on them wants which they never knew before ; 
and labour becomes necessary in order to supply them. 
Accordingly, all the more useful among the arts and 
trades of civilized life are to be found accompanying 
the progress of the Gospel. In the schools of Sierra 
Leone, the girls are taught to spin cotton, and the 
boys to weave.* Even the New Hollander may be seen 
ploughing and reaping for the Missionary ; and plant¬ 
ing corn, melons, and pumpkins for himself.f The 
journal of a Missionary catechist at New Zealand, 
records his daily superintendence of the natives while 
occupied in the various labours of the blacksmith’s 
shop, of house-building, and of the plough. The tes¬ 
timony of Lieutenant Sloekenstrom, Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of the eastern division of the Cape of Good 
Hope, imported, that the land at Kat River was culti¬ 
vated tc to the astonishment of every body who visited 
it, in proportion -to the strength and means of the 
Hottentots.’’^: u At the station where I live,” said the 
head of the Moravian Missionary Institution in South 
Africa, “one half of the population subsists by working 
at mechanical arts, cutlers, smiths, joiners, turners, 
masons, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, and so on.”§ 
u We have ploughing, wagonmakers, and shoemakers, 
and other tradesmen amongst us,” said Andrew Stoffel, 
a Hottentot ; “we can make all those things except a 
watch, and a coach.”|| The following is a concise 
enumeration of the useful arts, the animals, and the 
vegetable productions, which have been introduced by 
the Missionaries into the various stations they have 
occupied in the South Seas. 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 89. 

f Idem, p. 110. | Idem, p. 353. 

§ Idem, p. 355. || Idem, p. 360. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


201 


USEFUL AFvTS. 

Smith’s work. 

House-building. 

Ship-building. 

Lime-burning. 

Turning. 

Sofa, chair, and bed¬ 
stead making. 
Growth and manufac¬ 
ture of tobacco. 
Sugar-boiling. 
Printing. 


VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 

A variety of valuable 
esculents. 

Pumpkins, melons, 
sweet potatoes, &c., 
&c. 

Oranges, lemons, and 
limes. 

Pine apples. 

Custard apples. 

Coffee. 

Cotton. 

Indigo. 


ANIMALS. 

Goats. 

Sheep. 

Horses. 

Asses. 

Cattle, &c. 

Pigs into several 
islands. 
Turkeys. 

Geese. 

Ducks, &c. 
Fowls.* 


4. When the Missionary has thus put a newly-re¬ 
claimed people in the way of providing for their imme¬ 
diate wants, it might be supposed that the next step 
would be to devote every moment of their leisure, 
which could be spared from their religious instruction, 
to their mental education. Having taught them the 
alphabet of civilization, the alphabet of their own lan¬ 
guage would seem naturally to follow. But perhaps 
the language is without an alphabet. In many instances, 
the modern Missionary , like an Ulpliilas , a Patricias, 
and a Cyril of earlier times , has given to the people 
a written language. From the time when the u Indian 
Evangelist” reduced the Massachusetts Indian languagef 
to form, in 1660, down to the present day, when the 
New Zealander, the Caffre, and the Rarotongian, are 
just beginning to learn the written signs of their re¬ 
spective tongues, this is a benefit which the Christian 
Missionary has often conferred. With scarcely any 
aid besides that which they derive from the oral and 
uncertain explanations of the natives, the Missionaries 
of a single American Society have constructed the 
framework of, at least, seven languages from the foun¬ 
dation ; forming the alphabet, determining the orthog¬ 
raphy, arranging the grammar, and presenting the 
whole in a written form : and, where circumstances 


* William’s Missionary Enterprise, pp. 578, 579. 
f Of which Mather said that the words looked as if they had 
been growing ever since the confusion of Babel. 




202 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


have required, other societies have been proportionally 
useful in conferring on the heathen the same benefit. 
Qualified Missionaries are employed at the present 
time in reducing to a written form the Australian, 
Foulah, Mandingo, and other languages. In this way, 
Christian Missions are incidentally laying the founda¬ 
tion for all the literature which the millions of these 
various nations may ever possess. Besides which, the 
treasures contained in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, 
French, German, and English languages, are in the 
process of transmission into all the written and unwrit¬ 
ten tongues which our Missionaries employ. 

5. The next step in the civilizing process, is educa¬ 
tion. As the Missionary does not address the heathen 
in his own name, but in the name of God ; and as the 
book containing the will of God is made ready to 
their hands, what more natural than a mutual anxiety 
that they should be able to consult it ? Accordingly, 
as soon as possible, every Mission opens its infant, 
youth, and adult schools ; and the natives generally 
both hasten to it-themselves, and send their children. 
About two hundred thousand children and adults are 
now receiving instruction through the agency of Mis¬ 
sionaries ; perhaps, nearly an equal number have al¬ 
ready enjoyed it. Here may be seen the infant learn¬ 
er, who, but for the timely interposition of the Chris¬ 
tian Missionary, would have been immolated, as all his 
brothers and sisters had been ; and there may be seen 
the hand that would have done it, tracing the alphabet. 
Here, the parent is seen learning of his child; and 
there the female is seen imparting instruction, where, 
once, her presence would have been deemed pollu¬ 
tion, and have incurred her destruction. Who does 
not prospectively recognize in many of those youth¬ 
ful pupils the future instructor of other tribes, and the 
Missionary to distant lands ? Who does not see, 
in many of those schools, the promise of theological 
seminaries, and the germ of future colleges ? And in 
the Press, with which many of them are connected, who 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


203 


does not recognize the sure prevention of a return to 
barbarism, and the foundation of national cultivation 
and of future mental greatness ? 

6. Education tends, in a variety of ways, to create 
a demand for the institution of laws. By teaching 
them to read, a people obtain a knowledge of the 
customs and advantages of law in civilized lands ; by 
enlightening their minds, such knowledge shows them 
the evils which they have suffered from the want of law ; 
by quickening their moral nature, it awakens a craving 
after a rule to walk by ; and, by thus humanizing them, 
it prepares them to conform to the law enacted. Hence, 
the Missionary, as their only adviser and friend, is often 
called on to become, in effect, their lawgiver. The 
Cherokees of North America,* and the Caffres of the 
Little Namaquas, have their respective codes.f The 
Sandwich Islands recognize the authority of law. 
Formerly, in the island of Rarotonga, u the king, when 
a thief was caught upon his premises, would have him 
cut up, and portions of his body hung in different parts of 
the farm on which the depredation had been committed. 
But when Christianity was embraced by them, they 
saw immediately that such sanguinary proceedings were 
inconsistent with the benign spirit of the Gospel, and 
they inquired of us what would be done in England, 
and what was consistent with the Christian profession ? 
We informed them that there were judges in England, 
and all such offences were tried regularly, and particular 
punishments awarded. They immediately said, ‘ Will 
it not be well for us to have the same ?’ and, after 
months’ and months’ consultation with them, and ex¬ 
plaining those things to them, a very simple code was 
drawn up.’’if The Tahitians have also a simple, 
explicit, and wholesome code of laws, as the result of 
their imbibing the principles of Christianity. This 
code of laws is printed and circulated among them, 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 51. 

f Idem, p. 157. $ Idem, p. 300. 


204 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


understood by all, and acknowledged by all, as the 
supreme rule of action for all classes in their civil and 
social relations. The laws have been productive of 
great benefits ;* and of these benefits all the Society 
Islands are more or less partakers. To the practical 
working of these laws, impartial and ample testimony 
has been borne as to “one of the greatest temporal 
blessings they have derived from the introduction of 
Christianity.”f By making the New Testament the 
basis of their civil enactments, they have placed their 
government under the Divine protection, and laid a 
foundation for lasting national prosperity. 

7. To say that the Gospel has erected a standard of 
morality among those of whom we are speaking, is only 
to state what is clearly implied in the paragraph pre¬ 
ceding ; for it is not until men are becoming a law unto 
themselves, that they begin to think of enacting rules 
for their own conduct, or for that of others. To say 
that they have been rendered moral, compared with 
their idolatrous fellow-countrymen, would be to fall 
far short of the truth; in many respects their example 
is a loud lecture on morality to the civilized Britain. 
Not in vain has the Bible said to the Sandwich Island¬ 
ers, “ Thou shalt not commit adultery;” having enacted 
a law in 1S25, prohibiting the sins which violate that 
law, and having extended it to foreign visitors as well 
as to themselves, “the rage of the former, who came 
in the ships in the autumn of the year, was such, that 
they could scarcely be restrained from acts of the most 
violent outrage.” “Once,” write the Missionaries, “ we 
thought a single couple would be exposed to insult 
from the natives; now the natives are a defence from 
lawless foreigners, to whose violence we are all ex¬ 
posed. Not in vain has the Gospel said to the New 
Zealander, “Let him that stole, steal no more:” “ten 
years ago, a person scarcely dared to lay a tool down, 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 180. 

f Idem, p. 182. % Idem, pp. 42—44. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


205 


as it was almost sure to be stolen; now, locks and 
bolts are but little used, and but little needed; working 
tools are safe although lying in all directions.”* Not 
in vain for the Hottentot and the Tahitian, has the 
Bible denounced drunkenness; the former has peti¬ 
tioned from Kat River that no canteens might be 
allowed in the settlement; the latter has enacted a 
law which prohibits trade with ships which come for 
the purpose of introducing ardent spirits; and, indeed, 
the island of Porapora is the only one that retains the 
use of ardent spirits in the whole of the Tahitian and 
Society Island group.f The Honourable Justice 
Burton informed Doctor Philip of the Cape of Good 
Hope, after a circuit tour, that he had made three 
journeys over the colony, as a circuit Judge; that 
during these circuits, he had had nine hundred cases 
before him, and that only two of these cases were con¬ 
nected with Hottentots who belonged to Missionary 
institutions, and that neither of them was an aggravated 
case. On a comparison of the population at the Mis¬ 
sionary stations with that of the rest of the colony 
which was under the jurisdiction of the circuit court, 
the fact stated by the judge marked the proportion 
of the crimes as one to thirty-five.:}: 

8. If, in some instances, heathen tribes are indebted 
to Christian Missionaries for their discovery, in still 
more, probably, have they been saved , by the same 
agency, from extinction . A competent witness testifies, 
in his “Evidence on the Aborigines,”§ that wherever 
the Gospel has not been introduced among the Indians 
of Upper Canada, there the process by which the dimi¬ 
nution of their numbers is effected is steadily going on; 
but wherever Christianity has been established, there a 
check has been opposed to the process of destruction; 
and on the older stations, among the tribes that have 
been the greatest length of time under the influence of 

# Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 119. 

f Idem, pp. 351; 301; 276. 

f Tract Society publication. § p. 145. 

18 


206 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


Christian principles, there the proportion has begun 
somewhat to increase.” The Missionary establishments 
have “unquestionably done much good,” said Major 
Dundas,* “in bringing together, and in keeping together, 
the wrecks of the Hottentot nation.” The depopulation 
of the Sandwich and South Sea Islands, since the time 
of their discovery by Captain Cook, is truly fearful. 
His estimate of the number of the inhabitants was 
probably much too high; but, within the memory of 
the Missionaries, the prevalence of wars of extermination, 
of infanticide, and the introduction of European diseases 
and vices, had reduced the population of some of the 
islands from thousands to hundreds, and of others from 
hundreds to tens. But the Christian Missionary “stood 
between the dead and the living, and the plague was 
stayed.” Since Christianity has prevailed among the 
people, there has been a reaction; the population is 
supposed to have increased about one-fourth. Thus the 
Gospel came between them and annihilation.! 

9. Missionaries frequently act the part of mediators 
between chiefs and tribes at variance , and have thus 
been the means of arresting many a sanguinary conflict, 
and of reconciling the parties to each other. On some 
of these occasions they volunteer their mediation, bring 
the hostile chiefs together, and continue to exert their 
peaceful influence, till a friendship is effected. But so 
well is their peacemaking character known, and so 
highly is it esteemed, even by those natives who have 
not embraced Christianity, that they are often sent for 
to interpose; and, generally, from the moment they 
come between the parties at issue, the breach is con¬ 
sidered to be as good as healed. Even when the hostile 
ranks have been confronted with thousands on a side, 
ready at a word to rush in savage and deadly encounter, 
the Missionary has pitched his tent of peace between, 
and, for days together, has gone from tribe to tribe, and 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 347. 

| Idem, pp. 61, 292. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


207 


from chief to chief, till they came to a resolution of 
peace.* 

10. But, if the Christian Missionary confers a benefit 
on heathen tribes in preventing wars of extermination, 
and saving them from extinction, still more does he 
serve them, according to the ordinary mode of calcula¬ 
tion, by rescuing their mental character from undeserved 
ignominy , and restoring them to the rank of our common 
humanity. A false philosophy, while complacently 
monopolizing all the genuine philanthrophy to be found in 
the world, has yet most strangely evinced its philan¬ 
thropy by consigning a large proportion of the species 
to neglect and extermination as irreclaimably degenerate 
and savage. The advocates of such a philosophy, while 
affecting this superiority over their brother savage, must 
have forgotten that those very airs are among the certain 
marks of an imperfect civilization; that they are shared 
by every untutored tribe on the face of the earth; and 
that there was a time, in the history of Britain, when 
the ancestors of those very philosophers were deemed by 
similar philosophers at Rome to be too stupid even for 
slaves—when Cicero could advise his friend Atticus not 
to obtain his slaves from Britain, u because they are so 
stupid, and utterly incapable of being taught, that they 
are unfit to form a part of the household of Atticus.” 
But that which the Gospel effected for us, its modern 
Missionaries are accomplishing, under God, for the 
slandered heathen of the present day. The Moravian 
Missionaries soon discovered, when the Gospel began to 
affect the Greenlander, that his previous condition had 
been one, not of hopeless stupidity, but of utter igno¬ 
rance ; that in proportion as the influence of grace pre¬ 
vailed on his heart, his torpid mind awoke and came 
forth; that the dawning of spiritual light, like the 
return of the sun after the one long night of his own 
winter, ended both his brutishness and his vice, and gave 

* Missionary Enterprise, p. 457 j and Evidence on the Aborigi¬ 
nes, pp. 15, 211—218. 


203 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


him a mind and a heart together.* * * § The Hottentot, 
through all his varieties, is found as eager for instruc¬ 
tion, and as capable of cultivation, as the European 
himself.f The liberated negro child at Sierra Leone, 
is soon found worthy of being prepared to become a 
native teacher. While the enslaved adult negroes have 
abundantly proved their equality, at least, to those who 
have held them in bondage. u Your Missionaries have 
determined that; they have dived into that mine from 
which we were often told no valuable ore or precious 
stone could be extracted ; and they have brought up the 
gem of an immortal spirit, flashing with the light of 
intellect, and glowing with the hues of Christian 
graces.Even the native children of New Holland, 
placed by common consent in the lowest grade of 
humanity, are found in no degree inferior in intellect 
or ability to learn, to children in general in an English 
school.§ How mighty must that influence be which can 
thus disinter the mental faculties, and quicken into 
quivering sensibility what appeared to be a mass of un¬ 
conscious brutality ! And how beneficent that agency 
which takes whole tribes and nations, whom a worldly 
philosophy had struck out from the family of man, and 
exalts them, through grace, into the family of God. 

11. Christian Missions have proved eminently bene¬ 
ficial in affording protection to the oppressed , and in 
procuring liberty for the enslaved. At some stations, 
the mere presence of the Missionary has proved a 
salutary check on the lawless barbarities which Euro¬ 
peans had been accustomed to commit on the Aborigines. 
At others, he has obtained magisterial interference in 
behalf of the oppressed, and has secured their rights in 
defiance of their cruel taskmasters. In one place, he 
has guarded against the danger of domestic slavery by 
inducing the natives themselves to prohibit it by law. 

* Carne’s Lives of Eminent Missionaries, vol. i. p. 247. 

f Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 350—353; also p. 104. 

i Rev. R. Watson on the Religious Instruction of the Slaves. 

§ Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 107. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


209 


In another, he may be seen hastening with presents to 
ransom captives taken in war. While in other instances, 
the influence of that Gospel which he has preached has 
induced the converted natives voluntarily to break the 
chain of their slaves and to let them go free.* 

But the great triumphs of Christian Missions, in 
ameliorating the state of the slave colonies, and libe¬ 
rating the slave, have yet to be recorded. No one 
acquainted with the history of negro emancipation wall 
for a moment question that these happy results were 
hastened and effected by Providence, through the moral 
influence of Christian Missions. The Ordinance issued 
at the Cape, in 1828, by the provisions of which the 
Hottentots and other free persons of colour within the 
colony were placed on a civil and political equality with 
the white colonists, was the undeniable effect of Mis¬ 
sionary perseverance and fidelity. The publication of 
4C Researches in South Africa,” and the proclamation of 
this African Bill of rights—this Magna Charta of the 
Hottentot nation—stand together in the relation of cause 
and effect. 

The great Act, which enacted that, u from the first of 
August, 1884, slavery be utterly and for ever abolished 
throughout the British colonies, plantations, and pos¬ 
sessions abroad,” was doubtless the result, chiefly, of 
Missionary influence. By bringing to light the real 
condition of the slave—his brutal ignorance and heart- 
' rending wrongs—the religious part of the community 
had long been preparing for some great movement in 
his behalf. By the frantic and murderous violence with 
which some of the planters assailed the men who were 
engaged in his instruction, the people of England were 
ultimately aroused to petition Parliament for the over¬ 
throw of the system. And by the influence of the 
compassion thus awakened, and which stopped not to 
count the ransom for suffering humanity, the nation 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 5—21, SO—35, 157, 238, 247. 
Missionary Enterprises, p. 325. 

18* 


I 


210 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


generously cast twenty millions at the feet of the slave¬ 
holder, as the price of the negroes’ deliverance. Thus 
humanity triumphed through religion, and religion 
through her Missionaries. Nor have their services in 
the cause of the negro been less important since the Act 
of Emancipation took effect. On the recorded testimony 
of colonial governors, we learn, that to their invaluable 
influence partly it is to be ascribed that the colonies 
have been brought so safely as they have through the 
successive stages of the critical transition. And from 
what we know of the past, we may confidently add, 
that not only have their known character and activity 
as the friend of the negro, tended to check his distrust 
and impatience, and to inspire him with confidence, but 
that the same causes have equally tended to secure for 
him, what otherwise he wouldnot speedily have obtained, 
the unperverted operation of the Act which treats him 
as u a man and a brother.” 

12. But Colonial Slavery is only one of a long cata¬ 
logue of evils which Christianity has blotted out by the 
hand of her Missionaries. If the tapu , one of the 
chief obstacles to New Zealand civilization, has been abo¬ 
lished, it is to be ascribed entirely, under God, to “the 
agency of Missionaries.”* If habitual idleness, one of 
the most prolific evils of savage life, has been extensively 
replaced by honest industry, the change has been effected 
entirely by the new wants and habits which Christianity 
has created, and by Missionary instruction in the arts of 
civilization. If an order in Council has been issued for 
the suppression of the pilgrim tax in India, it was 
obtained by the expression of Christian opinion in this 
country, and that opinion was sustained and made active 
by the representation of our Missionaries there. If a 
cannibal would now be sought for in vain, or an altar 
stained with the blood of human sacrifices, throughout 
nearly the whole nation of Polynesian Asiatics, the 
glory of the happy change redounds entirely to the 


* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 218. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


211 


influence of the Gospel. If the fearful trade of the 
u infant killer ” has ceased to exist throughout the same 
vast region ; and if the Ganges no longer receives its 
accustomed number of new-born babes, it is because the 
Gospel is going through the world restoring a heart to 
the human bosom. If the Indian suttee no longer 
receives its annual holocaust of 30,000 widows, it is 
because its unholy fires have been dimmed, and all but 
extinguished, by the rising of the Sun of righteousness. 
If Brahminism is rapidly falling into discredit, and the 
cruelties and immolations practised in honour of the 
Indian Moloch, greatly diminished, Christianity has been 
mainly instrumental in producing the change. In a 
word, if populous islands and regions of the earth have 
been lately wrested from the empire of idolatry, and 
brought under the happy influence of an enlightened 
civilization, the change has been effected by the blessing 
of God on the diffusion of the Gospel. 

13. Among the most distinguished benefits accruing 
to the heathen world from Christian Missions—so dis¬ 
tinguished that we deem it worthy of separate notice— 
is their elevating effect on the moral character and 
social rank of woman. Wherever our Missionaries have 
gone they have found that degradation is the condition 
of the sex, and insult and suffering its reward. Of the 
Chinese women, Gutzlaff writes, they are the slaves 
and concubines of their masters, live and die in igno¬ 
rance, and every attempt to raise themselves above the 
rank assigned them, is regarded as impious arrogance.* 
As might be expected, suicide is a refuge to which 
thousands of these ignorant idolaters fly.f And a 
large proportion of their new-born female children is 
destroyed. Even in Pekin, the residence of the em¬ 
peror, about 4000 are annually murdered and to ask 
a man of any distinction whether he has daughters, 
is a mark of great rudeness.§ The condition of the 

* Preface to Voyages, p. xxiv. 

t Abeel’s Appeal to Christian Ladies. 

i Abeel. § Gutzlaff. 


212 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


Hindoo women is, if possible, worse. <c Any thing,”says 
Bishop Heber,* u is thought good enough for them ; and 
the roughest words, the poorest garments, the scantiest 
alms, the most degrading labour, and the hardest blows, 
are generally their portion.” And yet China and India 
alone, are at this moment holding two hundred millions 
of immortal beings in this abject condition ! If there 
are those who can account for the entailed slavery of 
the negro race, only by resolving it into a divine male¬ 
diction, where is the curse recorded which can account 
for the social slavery and wretchedness of one half of 
the human race ? For, be it remembered that Divine 
Christianity is the only system which denounces the 
enormity. Mahometanism adds its authority to that of 
Hindooism and Budhism, in excluding woman, by 
system, from instruction ; and in pronouncing her soul¬ 
less and irreclaimably wicked. But if such be the 
verdict of civilized heathenism, what may we expect to 
be her doom in uncivilized lands ? To be prohibited 
from certain kinds of food which are reserved for the 
men and the gods, and from dwelling under the same 
roof with their tyrannical masters, are among the lighter 
parts of their fate. Well might the female barbarian 
of North America look on the coming of Eliot as that 
of an angel.f Well might the CafFres denominate a 
Missionary, u The shield of women.While every 
other system makes her the butt of their cruel shafts, 
the effect of the Gospel is to provide her with a shield. 
By exalting marriage, and denouncing licentiousness in 
all its forms, it provides for her the honourable relation 
of a wife, and the comforts of a home. By discoun¬ 
tenancing polygamy, it dries up unnumbered sources 
of domestic discord, and challenges for her the undivided 
affections of her husband. By extinguishing infanticide, 
and inculcating the parental duties, it multiplies the ties 
of conjugal endearment, and increases her importance to 

# Twenty-fourth Report of B. and F. S. S., p. 39. 

f Carne, vol. i. p. 19. 

i Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 323. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


213 


the welfare of her family. And by developing her mind, 
and exalting her character, it adds respect to domestic 
love, and renders her influence useful and lasting. All 
this Christianity has done. Ten thousand happy Poly¬ 
nesian, African and negro homes attest it. And the 
operations of the u Society for promoting Female Edu¬ 
cation in China, India, and the East,” are calcula¬ 
ted, by the Divine blessing, to increase their number. 

Now that the benefits which we have enumerated are 
among the results of Christian Missions, is become an 
established and familiar fact. To ask for any vouchers 
of the truth of our representation, beyond those which 
we have given, would betray ignorance of the passing 
events of the day, and an anxiety for something more 
and other than the truth. u These things have not 
been done in a corner. ” The narratives of impartial 
witnesses have recorded them. A succession of officers 
in the Army and Navy, have borne spontaneous tes¬ 
timony to them. They are registered in Colonial Re¬ 
ports, and taken for granted in Government Despatches. 
Our commerce wafts us to them; and the reclaimed 
idolaters themselves have come amongst us, as the re¬ 
presentatives of their fellow T -countrymen, to exhibit in 
their own persons the value of the Missionary enter¬ 
prise. Even the anti-supernaturalist, who regards their 
conversion as the natural result of their contact with 
Missionary morality and intelligence, does not hesitate 
to ascribe it to Missionary instrumentality. So impor¬ 
tant an element of civilization has that agency become, 
that the continental literati and savans—the Balbis and 
Kieffers, the JouiTroys, Remusats, and Klaproths, regard 
it with admiration. So conspicuous are its triumphs, 
that Rome itself, in the spirit of envy or emulation, is 
essaying to achieve the same with her enchantments. 
And so demonstrable and valuable is its practical bear¬ 
ing on the temporal welfare of man, that the highest 
municipal body in the kingdom has given it aid ; “not 
as forming a precedent to assist merely religious Mis¬ 
sions, nor as preferring any sect or party, but to be an 


214 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


extraordinary donation for promoting the great cause 
of civilization , and the moral improvement of our common 
species .” While the inquiries of our legislature in 
seeking cc Evidence on the Aborigines ,’ 7 have established 
the fact, that Christian Missionaries are the great agents 
of civilization, and rank amongst the most distinguished 
benefactors of mankind. 

The social and moral advantages, then, which the 
Missionary enterprise has conferred on the heathen, 
are before the world. And had the good which it 
has imparted terminated here, who does not feel that 
it would have amply repaid the cost and toil with 
which they have been attended ? What vast tracts 
has it rescued from barbarism, and with what creations 
of benevolence has it clothed them ! How many thou¬ 
sands whom ignorance and selfishness had branded as 
the leavings and refuse of the species, if not actually 
akin to the beasts that perish, are at this moment rising 
under its fostering care, ascribing their enfranchisement, 
under God, to its benign interposition; taking encou¬ 
ragement from its smiles to assume the port and bearing 
of men; and, by their acts and aspirations, retrieving 
the character and dignity of the slandered human form! 
When did literature accomplish so much for nations 
destitute of a written language ? or, education pierce 
and light up so large and dense a mass of human 
ignorance ? When did humanity save so many lives, or 
cause so many sanguinary u wars to cease?” How 
many a sorrow has it soothed; how many an injury 
arrested; how many an asylum has it reared amidst 
scenes of wretchedness and oppression for the orphan, 
the outcast, and the sufferer ! When did liberty ever 
rejoice in a greater triumph than that which Missionary 
instrumentality has been the means of achieving ? or 
civilization find so many sons of the wilderness learning 
her arts, and agriculture, and commerce ? or law receive 
so much voluntary homage from those who but yesterday 
were strangers to the name ? By erecting a standard 
of morality, how vast the amount of crime which it 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


215 


has been the means of preventing! By asserting the 
claims of degraded woman, how powerful an instrument 
of social regeneration is it preparing for the future ? 
And by doing all this by the principle and power of 
all moral order and excellence—the Gospel of Christ— 
how large a portion of the world’s chaos has it restored 
to light, and harmony, and peace ! 

Had human philosophy effected such results as these 
—or only a thousandth part of them—how soon would 
her image be set up, and what multitudes would fall 
down and worship ! By leaving a single esculent on an 
island, Kotzebue plumed himself with the assurance 
of having secured its ultimate civilization. 

But great as are the benefits which we have enu¬ 
merated, and most of which can in a sense, be seen, 
and measured, and handled, we venture to affirm that 
those which are at present comparatively impalpable 
and undeveloped are greater still. The unseen, is far 
greater than that w 7 hich appears. The Missionary has 
been planting the earth with principles ; and these are 
of as much greater value than the visible benefits which 
they have already produced, as the tree is more valuable 
than its first year’s fruit. The tradesman may take 
stock and calculate his pecuniary affairs to a fraction ; 
the astronomer may count the stars; and the chemist 
weigh the invisible element of air; but he who in the 
strength of God conveys a great truth to a distant region, 
or puts into motion a divine principle, has performed 
a work of which futurity alone can disclose the results. 
At no one former period could either of our Missionary 
Societies have attempted to u number Israel”—to 
reduce to figures either the geographical extent or the 
practical results of its influence, without having soon 
received, in the cheering events which followed, a dis¬ 
tinct but gracious rebuke. How erroneous the calcu¬ 
lation which should have set down the first fifteen 
years of fruitless Missionary labour in Greenland, or 
the sixteen in Tahiti, or the twenty in New Zealand, 
as years of entire failure ! when, in truth, the glorious 


216 


TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF 


scene which then ensued, was simply that which God 
was pleased to make the result of all that had preceded 
—the explosion, by the divine hand, of a train which 
had been lengthening and enlarging during every moment 
of all those years. So that were the whole field of 
Missions to be suddenly vacated, and all its moral 
machinery at once withdrawn, we confidently believe 
that the amount of temporal good, arising from what 
has been done, will be much greater twenty years hence 
than it is at present. 

Who can say, for instance, to what extent the entire 
fabric of idolatry is undermined ? remembering the 
fact that the Sandwich Islands abandoned their gods 
at the mere rumor of Tahiti’s conversion, and before 
a Christian Missionary had approached them; although 
that report had to be borne across the waters nearly 
three thousand miles. Who can walk to the circum¬ 
ference of the moral circle of which a Missionary 
station is the centre, and say, here its useful influence 
will be exhausted ? For the Gospel moralizes even 
when it does not convert; and where it does not so 
much as induce the abandonment of idolatry. It 
checks unnumbered evils, unveils the deformity of vice, 
restores the lost influence of shame, and thus gradually 
diminishes crime, and raises the moral tone of society : 
—even the hemlock and the nightshade grow less 
rankly where the sun shines. Who can calculate the 
effect of emancipation in the West Indies, on the 
servile population of the Union ? “The sympathies 
between the colonial inhabitants of the two regions,” 
says an American authority, “must become more and 
more extensive. No legal enactments, no armed cordon 
around Florida, can prevent it. News of the progress 
of human freedom will fly faster than civil proclama¬ 
tions. Human sympathies cannot be blocked up by 
negociations, nor by ships of war. Rumours of this sort 
will fly on the winds of heaven.” 

This too is the prospective view to be taken of that 
munificent gift, by which the nation charmed the 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


217 


dragon slavery from its victims. True, its immediate 
purpose may, in some respects, have partially failed ; 
but not one of all its higher ends. Twenty millions 
of enactments against slavery, would not have made 
a return to that enormity so impossible as that gift 
has done. Twice twenty million hearts beat quicker 
in the cause of humanity than ever. More than that 
number of benevolent impulses have been sent thrill¬ 
ing through all the departments of social improvement. 
We meant it for our country—it has touched the heart 
of the world. We meant it to take full and final 
effect on a day at hand—it will operate till the last 
day. We meant it for a given number of slaves— 
in an important sense, it has bought the freedom of 
mankind. And thus nothing good is lost. The feeblest 
act for God, not by any inherent strength of its own, 
but by being linked on to some great principle of the Di¬ 
vine government, is carried on through all time, and, for 
aught we know, through all worlds. 

And who does not forsee that, owing materially 
to Missionary influence, the whole system of British 
colonization, as far as it affects the aborigines, is likely 
to be essentially improved ? By exposing the fact that 
for ages we have been imitating the Spanish and the 
Portuguese in the worst parts of their policy, and in 
the blackest features of their national character ; that 
while we have been priding ourselves on our superior 
humanity and civilization, we have been laying whole 
regions desolate, and consigning entire tribes to de¬ 
struction ; Christian Missions have aroused the national 
indignation, and thus taken the first step towards reme¬ 
dying the evil. While by pointing out the only legiti¬ 
mate method of colonization ; by perseveringly im¬ 
ploring, and, through the public voice, demanding, in 
the name of outraged justice and humanity, that this 
method shall be adopted ; and by continuing to report 
every fresh violation of it, they are powerfully tending, 
under God, to base our future intercourse with the 

19 


218 


RELIGIOUS BENEFITS OF, 


aborigines on righteousness and peace, and thus to 
promote on a most extended scale, the temporal welfare 
of myriads of mankind. 


SECTION II. 

THE RELIGIOUS BENEFITS AND SPIRITUAL RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MIS¬ 
SIONS, AMONG THE HEATHEN. 

Great as are the social and moral blessings which 
Christian Missions have been the means of imparting 
to heathen lands, they have only, in a sense, been 
imparted incidentally, by aiming at greater things than 
these. The great design of Christ in coming into the 
world was to erect his Cross, and the supreme object 
of his Missionary is instrumentally to dispense its 
blessings—blessings as much superior to those which 
relate only to the present, as the nature and duration 
of the undying soul surpass the body which enshrines 
it. While he rejoices, therefore, in being made the 
medium of imparting temporal benefits, he values them 
chiefly as the signs and the means of yet greater good. 
He remembers that, important as they may be in the 
class of blessings to which they belong, they are only 
accidental to religion—the dust of that diamond which 
constitutes her crowning gift—the shed blossoms of 
that tree of life of which his office is to dispense the im¬ 
mortal fruit. 

In enumerating the benefits glanced at in the last 
section, then, we have only been ascending the steps of 
that temple which it is the design of the Missionary 
enterprise to erect. And although it is allowed us to 
sing our u song of degrees ” as we ascend them, our 
great business is within. Here angels join us, and 
mingle their joy with the grateful tears of myriads 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


219 


of reclaimed penitents. Here the Redeemer himself 
sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied. 

1. But in order that we may be the better prepared 
to estimate this spiritual result, let us begin with the 
first religious benefits of Christian Missions, in effecting 
an extensive abolition of idolatry . If there r existed a 
region on the face of the earth where, in defiance of 
the law which commands, “ thou shalt have no other 
gods before me,” the Divine Lawgiver himself were 
forgotten, and demons placed on his throne; where the 
moral darkness had for ages been deepening and con¬ 
cealing abominations, till diabolical ingenuity itself had 
exhausted its hideous devices ; and where a cloud stored 
with the bolts of Divine displeasure had been conse¬ 
quently collecting and impending, ready every moment 
to discharge a tempest of destruction, would he not be 
an instrument of immense good who should hold up a 
light in the midst of that darkness, by which the de¬ 
luded worshipper should see that they had been sacri¬ 
ficing to devils, not to God, and before which those 
demons should fly ? Such regions there are. The 
entire empire of polytheism is a realm of diabolical 
dominion. It assembles its votaries only to blaspheme 
the name of God; erects its temple only to attract 
the lightning of the impending cloud on their devoted 
heads; calls them around its altars only that in the 
very act of supposed atonement they may complete 
their guilt; and gives them a pretended revelation only 
“that they should believe a lie.” And such an angel 
of mercy is the Christian Missionary. To say nothing, 
at present, of the decline of idolatry in India, and of 
the conversion of some of the tribes of Africa and 
North America, where now, we ask, is the idolatry 
which lately revelled in the Sandwich, the Marquesan, 
the Paumotu, the Tahitian and Society, the Austral, 
the Hervey, the Navigators, the Friendly Islands and 
New Zealand, and in all the smaller islands in their 
respective vicinities ? Idolatry still reigns in Western 
Polynesia, and still steeps its victims in blood and guilt; 


220 


RELIGIOUS BENEFITS OF 


what benevolent power has swept the curse from East¬ 
ern Polynesia ? The Missionary of the Cross has been 
there proclaiming, that “there is one God and one 
Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” 
—and about ninety islands have “cast their idols to 
the moles and to the bats,” and about 400,000 
idolaters have become the professed worshippers of 
the only living and true God. We admit, indeed, 
that the mere abandonment of idolatry is very remote 
from scriptural conversion to God. But if the in¬ 
spired history exhibits the Almighty in one continued 
contest with idolatry, is it nothing to find, though 
it be only about the fifteen hundredth part of his 
infatuated foes lay down their arms, and virtually ac¬ 
knowledge their guilt ? If the mere casting out of 
a demon was a benefit to the dispossessed which 
called for his ardent and lasting gratitude, is it no¬ 
thing for whole demoniac communities to have the 
fiend of idolatry, whose name is Legion, cast out of 
the body politic, and to be now found “clothed, and 
in their right mind ?” The renunciation of a false 
religion is at least one step towards the adoption of 
the true one. 

2. If we knew of a region where the sun of know’- 
ledge—if ever it shone there—set long ages ago; 
where the absence of truth has not merely left the 
mind vacant, but in actual possession of destructive 
errors, like a deserted mansion converted into a den 
for robbers and murderers ; and where truth is not only 
lost to man, and fatal error is in full possession, but 
where man is actually lost to the truth—lost to the 
power of even intellectually apprehending it when first 
presented to his mind; and if there existed a process 
by which that darkness could be pierced, those errors 
exploded, and this power restored, would not he be 
a great benefactor who should attempt and conduct 
it to a successful issue ? That region is heathenism ; 
that process is education; and that benefactor the 
Christian Missionary. Visit, in thought, the .200,000 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


221 


youthful and adult scholars sitting at his feet to 
receive instruction, and imagine what all those im¬ 
mortal beings would have been if left to themselves. 
A considerable number would doubtless have been 
destroyed in infancy, had he not gone to their rescue; 
while, for the rest, the past would have been all a 
fable, the future a blank, and the present would have 
been spent in a perpetual conflict whether the fiend 
or the brute should predominate in their nature. Does 
the reader deeply commiserate such a condition ? Let 
him remember that the depth of his compassion is 
a measure, however inadequate, for estimating the 
value of that process which enables them to emerge 
out of it. Let him observe further, as the process 
advances, how the faculties recover their proper plia¬ 
bility, how the understanding rejoices in the power 
of apprehending truth, and reason gradually resumes 
its throne, and even the countenance itself is humanized, 
“losing the wild and vacant stare of the savage” in 
the mild and intelligent expression of the reasonable 
being; and let him remember that the pleasure which 
he experiences in marking the transformation is another 
measure by which to estimate the value of Missionary 
effort. 

Let him not suppose, however, that he has all the 
evidence of its value before him till he has ascertained 
the importance attached to it by the recipients them¬ 
selves ; till he has marked the adult barbarian indignant 
at his own slowness of comprehension; till he has 
seen the negro parent patiently submitting to be taught 
by his own children and the New Zealander estab¬ 
lishing schools in his own villages, under the direction 
of native youths ;f till he has beheld the fierce warrior 
of a hundred battles presiding at the examination 
of the children of his people, and has seen amidst 
the beaming looks of the parents who had spared 
their children, and the tearful countenances of those 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 105. f Idem, p. 249. 

19* 


222 


RELIGIOUS BENEFITS OF 


who had immolated theirs, some venerable chieftain 
rise, and with impassioned look and manner exclaim, 
u Let me speak ; I must speak ! Oh that I had 
known that the gospel was coming ! Oh that I had 
known that these blessings were in store for us ; then 
I should have saved my children, and they would 
have been among this happy group, repeating these 
precious truths; but, alas ! I destroyed them all, and 
now I have not one leftthen cursing the gods 
which they had formerly worshipped, and adding with 
a flood of tears, tc It was you that infused this savage 
disposition into us, and now I shall die childless, al¬ 
though I have been the father of nineteen children. 
Oh that some one had seized my murderous hand, 
and had told me, The gospel of salvation is coming 
to our shores !”* And even then let the reader re¬ 
member, that in estimating the value of Missionary 
instruction, the chief element is wanting unless he 
could foresee the number who will go forth from 
enjoying it, “wise unto salvation.” 

3. If there existed a region where the mind of 
milli ons, heaving and surging like the labouring ocean, 
was ever seeking rest and finding none, would not 
he be conferring on it an incomparable good who 
should instrumentally allay its perturbations, and 
minister to its enlightened repose ? Such a region 
is to be found wherever the terrors of superstition 
prevail. How dense must be that moral darkness 
which is only comparable to the shadow of death! 
What must be the state of that mind which could 
realize its conception of the invisible powers only in 
the forms of idols so monstrously distorted and horrible 
as to shock the imagination! How intense must be 
that anguish of soul which can impel men to lacerate 
their flesh, and inflict agonies of self-torture! which 
can burst the sacred bonds of humanity, and offer a 
brother-man in sacrifice! or which can even suppress 


* Missionary Enterprises, p. 564. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


223 


the still more sacred feelings of the mother, and induce 
her to immolate her infant child ! Then what must 
be the amount of obligation conferred on the victims 
of such a reign of terror by him who takes into the 
midst of them an infallible remedy for the whole! 
And yet the Christian Missionary does this. He 
goes to tell the dupes of imposture of essential truth; 
to tell the infanticide mother that she may save her 
offspring, and may press them to her heart; and the 
devotee of the Ganges, of the washing of regeneration, 
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; and the self¬ 
torturing votary of cruelty, that the name of God 
is Love; and the self-immolating worshippers of Jug¬ 
gernaut, of the sacrifice offered once for all, and of 
the blood which cleanseth from all sin. Whether 

the heathen avail themselves of the proffered good 

or not, he takes into the midst of them light which 
can dissipate the gross darkness of ages, unveils a 

propitiation which expiates the guilt of a world, and 
the offer of a peace which reflects the cloudless tran¬ 
quility of heaven itself. 

4. Nor does his usefulness stop even here. At 
this point it assumes its loftiest character, and only 
begins to produce its noblest results. An agency 
there is which can not only take these blessings into 
the midst of a heathen tribe, but which can then 

dispose that tribe to receive them ; and by that agency 
the Christian Missionary is actually accompanied. A 
change there is which new 7 -creates the soul; and of 
that change he is the honoured instrument. Pointing 
to a hundred and eighty thousand Christian converts, 
he can say, u Ye were darkness, but now are ye light 
in the Lord.” Name the most depraved and degraded 
of the species, and pointing to those converts he can 
say, u Such were some of you ; but ye are washed, 
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our 
God.” Do we speak of u the vision of dry bones” 
as a scene typical of a great spiritual triumph ? Here 


224 


RELIGIOUS BENEFITS OF 


is, at least, u an exceeding great army” raised from 
the dead by the same renewing power, and whose 
spiritual change is worthy of being classed with the 
most stupendous miracles of grace. Do we point 
to the three thousand converts of the pentecost, and 
pray for a similar triumph of the converting Spirit ? 
Here are, numerically, at least, the fruits of the 
Pentecostal scene fifty times repeated. 

5. If we knew of a volume, parts of which were 
prepared for converts such as those we have described; 
and the whole of which, written by the finger of God, 
was calculated to reflect light, and love, and glory 
around them; if we knew of a day on which they 
could statedly assemble together to worship God, and 
associate in spirit with the seraphim around the throne, 
and enjoy a foretaste of the Sabbath above ; and if 
there existed a society instituted by Christ, enjoying 
his perpetual presence, and designed expressly to train 
them up for the perfect society of the blessed, would 
not he who should be the means of putting them 
in possession of all this do more than confer on them 
the wealth of a world ? Such a volume there is, 
and with incalculable toil the Missionary has prepared 
and placed it in their hands ; and as they bend over 
the sacred page, or press it to their hearts, the language 
which beams in their eye, and escapes from their 
lips is, “Lord, to whom shall we go but unto thee ? 
thou hast the words of eternal life !” Such a day 
there is, and as it dawns with all the hallowed tran¬ 
quility of the first Sabbath, ten thousand dwellings, 
once the habitations of cruelty, resound with the 
morning hymn of praise ; and as its sacred hours 
advance, a number greater than “ the number of them 
that are sealed,” u of all nations, and kindreds, and 
people, and tongues,” may be seen assembled “before 
the throne ” of grace, and “ before the Lamb,” wor¬ 
shipping God “ in the beauty of holiness,” and “ crying, 
Salvation unto our God, who sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb.” And such a divine society 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


225 


thfere is ; and to all those worshippers the Christian 
Missionary can say, “Ye are come unto Mount Sion ; 
.... to the general assembly and church of the first¬ 
born, which are written in heaven.” Upwards of a 
thousand particular churches, belonging to the great 
community of the faithful, are at this moment to be 
found in heathen lands. In each of these, truths are 
statedly proclaimed, and ordinances administered, which 
the wise and the holy of former times panted and 
prayed in vain to enjoy ; and on which infinite wisdom 
and grace have expended their most precious resources. 
So richly worthy of God are they in their constitution 
and design, that did even the least of them all exist 
alone in the earth, it would form a study for angels, 
from which they might “ learn the manifold wisdom 
of God.” So important and precious are they in the 
estimation of Christ, that while he is represented as 
only extending his sceptre and despatching his messen¬ 
gers to other parts of his dominions, he himself “ walks 
in the midst of his churches.” And, consequently, 
so ennobling are they in their practical influence, that 
every act, and privilege, and law by which they are dis¬ 
tinguished, tends directly to prepare their members for 
the loftier worship of the beatified church above. 

6. And this reminds us, that the bright and ultimate 
results of Christian Missions are nowhere to be found 
on earth. They are to be looked for in heaven. 
Could we actually traverse every part of the wide 
field of Missionary labour of which we have spoken, 
and could we compute the value of its spiritual fruits 
with the accuracy of the angel who measured the 
ancient temple with a golden reed, vast as the total 
would be, it would only furnish us with the first figure 
of the mighty reckoning which the subject requires. 
In order to estimate their value aright, we must stand 
where the seer of the Apocalypse did, and command 
a view of heaven. For, be it remembered, that since 
the modern Missionary enterprise commenced, heaven 
has been constantly receiving accessions from its 


226 


RELIGIOUS BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


triumphant labours. And, be it observed further, 
that could the number of these be counted, and be 
added to the Missionary converts now on their way 
to the hill of God, still, in order to calculate the 
mighty sum of good, we should require to know the 
trains of usefulness which they have been enabled 
to lay for all the future. But what do we attempt ? 
Even then the computation would be only commenced. 
Were the last Christian Missionary sent forth, and 
the last Missionary proclamation of mercy delivered, 
the spiritual good already effected or commenced by 
such instrumentality is infinitely beyond the reach 
of numbers. Empty, weak, worthless as it is in itself, 
the Holy Spirit of God has been pleased to employ 
it as a means by which guilt which might destroy a 
world has been cancelled; iron chains of sin have 
been burst asunder; misery, second only to that of 
hell, has given place to the peace of God; hearts, 
stored with pollution, made habitations of God; where 
“ Satan’s seat” was, happy communities have been 
formed; large tracts of the earth have been blessed by 
it; and heaven has been deriving from it some of the 
richest trophies of redeeming grace. It is important 
as the salvation of myriads; precious as the blood 
of Christ; immeasurable as the joys of heaven; in¬ 
calculable as the revolutions of eternity. The mind 
which at first put it into motion can alone compute 
the value of its results. If an apostle felt constrained 
to “give thanks to God always” for the converts of a 
single church; if the fact that at Thessalonica a small 
number had been “turned from idols to serve the living 
and true God,” called forth the perpetual thanksgiving 
of one who had laboured in the Missionary field more 
than all his contemporaries, what should be the amount 
of our gratitude on beholding our surpassing success, 
and recollecting how little we have done individually 
to achieve it ? “Not unto us, O God, not unto us, 
but unto thy name be all the glory.” 


CHAPTER III. 


THE REFLEX BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


SECTION I. 

TEMPORAL BENEFITS. 

One of the most benevolent arrangements of the 
Divine Government is to be found in the fact, that 
no one can impart, or even attempt to impart, a benefit, 
without himself being benefited. “He that watereth, 
shall himself also be watered.” This is not to be 
regarded so much in the light of a promise, as of a 
law of the Divine administration,—a law by which 
the streams of beneficence are kept, like the waters 
of the ocean, in perpetual circulation, so that they 
are sure, sooner or later, to revisit their source; and 
a law, therefore, of which the great Author is himself 
the sublime illustration. And one of the brightest 
exemplifications of this law, in modern times, is to be 
found in the reflex influence of Christian Missions. 
In proof of this, we may begin by calling attention 
to a class of benefits which even the most sanguine 
and far-sighted friends of the Missionary enterprise 
hardly contemplated at first,— the temporal advantages 
which it returns to the people with whom it originates > 



228 


REFLEX BENEFITS OF 


Had one of its more calculating and sagacious friends 
ventured at the outset to prophesy such effects, the 
intimation would have been likely to excite greater 
contempt if possible, from the world, than even the 
expected, spiritual result; and even some of the Church 
would have been ready to say, “If the Lord would 
make windows in heaven might this thing be.” Yet 
such is the imposing magnitude to which this class 
of its results has now attained, that men who care for 
no other or higher benefit, acknowledge that this alone 
would amply repay the effort by which it is gained 

1. As one of the lowest, but very important advan¬ 
tages of Christian Missions, we might name the services 
which they have rendered to literature and science . 
Geographical and statistical information, to a very large 
amount, has been furnished by the Missionaries respect¬ 
ing Western Africa.* The Christian researches of 
Buchanan in India ; and of Jowett in the Mediterranean, 
Syria, and the Holy Land ; the journals of Heber ; 
the biographies of Martyn, Hall, Turner, Thomason, 
Brown, and others; the periodical accounts of the 
Serampore brethren; and the voluminous Reports of 
several of the Missionary institutions, are of great value 
to the historian and the naturalist. The Travels of 
Tyerman and Bennett; of Gutzlaff in China; and 
of Smith and Dwight through Georgia, Armenia, 
&c. ; the Polynesian Researches of Ellis ; and Pleartley’s 
Researches in Greece and the Levant; Gobat’s Abys¬ 
sinian Journal ; William’s Missionary Enterprises in 
the South Sea Islands ; Medhurst’s China ; and the 
invaluable volume of “ Evidence on the Aborigines ;” 
are books, whose attractions of subject and style 
have secured them an admission into the library of 
the Philosopher, as well as of the Christian. Geo¬ 
graphy, geology, natural history, philology, and ethno¬ 
graphy—the science which classifies nations according 

* See the Life of S. J. Mills; the eleven volumes of the African 
Repository ; the London Missionary Register ; and Reports of the 
African Institution. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


229 


to their languages* * * § —have been greatly enriched by 
them. “Numerous materials,” says Balbi,f u for the 
comparason of languages, have been collected at various 
times during the last three hundred years. In this 
field, along with many other very useful labourers, the 
ministers of Christianity have occupied the first rank. 
To the zeal of the Moravian, Baptist, and other Pro¬ 
testant Missionaries, as well as to the members of Bible 
Societies^ of all Christian sects, ethnography owes its 
acquaintance with so many nations hitherto unknown 
in India, and other regions of Asia, in various parts of 
America and Oceanica, along with the translation, in 
whole or in part, of the Bible in more than a hundred 
different languages.” 

In philology especially, the contributions of the Mis¬ 
sionaries have been distinguished. By correcting pre¬ 
vailing errors respecting linguistic affinities ;§ by bring¬ 
ing to light some of the choicest literary treasures of 
antiquity ;|| by their valuable translations from the lan¬ 
guages of the East ;1F by reducing many of the un¬ 
written languages of the earth to order and intelligible 
classification ;** and by the patient and laborious pre¬ 
paration of English and Foreign dictionaries and gram- 


* Or, more strict]}’’, the science which has for its object to classify 
nations. 

f Preliminary Discourse prefixed to the Atlas Ethnographique, 
Paris, 1826. 

\ The British and Foreign Bible Society has printed the Bible in 
nearly two hundred languages and dialects. 

§ Rev. Mr. Lieder, of the Church Missionary Society, seems to 
have determined that the Berber language of North Africa has no 
resemblance to that spoken by the Berberi of Nubia, as supposed by 
Balbi and others. His investigations throw great light on the lan¬ 
guages spoken in Nubia. 

|| The German Missionary Society entertains the hope that its Mis¬ 
sionaries at Shoosha will soon succeed in publishing that most pre¬ 
cious relic of the Armenian Church, their earliest translation of the 
Bible, dating from the fourth century. [A hope since disappointed by 
the expulsion of the Missionaries.] 

IT Mr. Thomson is understood to have engagedto translate for the 
Oriental Translation Society, some original works from the language 
of the Bugis, or principal nation of Celebes. 

** See the Chapter preceding. 

20 . 


230 


REFLEX BENEFITS OF 


mars,* they have laid the philologist under permanent 
obligation. Accordingly, not only has commerce been 
indebted to them, and an embassy employed them,f 
but learned Societies^ call in their aid, and accord their 
grateful thanks ;§ while the leading critics and jour¬ 
nalists record their praises, || and the graver Ency- 
clopsedistlF registers the activity of their labours for the 
information of posterity.** 

2. Christian Missions have corrected and enlarged 
our views of the character and condition of man. In 
vain would it now be for a Rousseau to repeat his 
foolish fancies concerning the perfections of the savage 
man, and the happiness of the savage life; and quite 
unnecessary that a Forster should gravely adduce evi¬ 
dence to the contrary,ff a Ferguson honour them with 
a philosophical investigation,^ or a Burke expose them 
to ridicule.§§ The universal degradation and misery of 
unreclaimed man, even of that boast of false philosophy, 
the North American Indian—has, chiefly, by the cir- 

* Here Morrison—the Johnson of Christian Lexicographers— 
stands conspicuous. Klaproth, in a detailed critique on his Chinese 
and English Dictionary, in the Allgemeine Litteratur Zeitung, places 
it beside “the great lexicon of the immortal Meninski.” Montucci 
goes much beyond this praise. M. Abel Remusat, Davis, and Hutt- 
m&nn, pronounce on it the highest eulogy. 

f Dr. Morrison in the suite of Lord Amherst, and Chinese Inter¬ 
preter to the British Commission at Canton ; in which office he was 
succeeded by Gutzlaff. 

$ The Oriental Translation Society ; see above. 

4 At a meeting of the Oriental Translation Society in London, June 
23rd, 1832, a vote of thanks to this effect to the American Mission in 
Ceylon, proposed by Sir A. Johnston, and seconded by Sir W. Ouse- 
ley, was unanimously carried. 

{| “ These authors,” says the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 28, 
referring to Marsden, Raffles, and Crawford, “ have been followed, 
and, at least, in practical acquaintance with the languages of the 
Eastern Islands, surpassed, by several of the English Missionaries. 

TT See Balbi. 

** In the American Biblical Repository for Jan. 183b, there is an 
article on the subject of the above paragraph replete with informa¬ 
tion, to which the author gratefully acknowledges his obligations. 

ft Observations, &c., by J. R. Forster, LL. D., 1778. 

ij: View of Society. 

4$ Vindication of Natural Society. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


231 


culation of Missionary information, become a fact as 
fully accredited as that of his existence. In vain would 
it now be for a certain class of Europeans to paint in 
glowing colours as they once did, the virtue of Asiatic 
pagans, and to eulogize their mythology as the most 
perfect system of morality which ever demanded the 
homage of the heart. That spell of falsehood Buchanan 
broke, by the exhibition of Juggernaut and his horrors. 
And if there was not in so old and well-examined a 
thing as human nature any new principle of evil to be 
brought to light, Missionary disclosures have at least 
shown some of its known evil principles operating in 
the mild Hindoo, “ with such an absoluteness of pos¬ 
sessive power, and displaying this disposition in such 
wantonly versatile, extravagant, and monstrous effects, 
as to surpass all our previous imaginations and measures 
of possibility.* And, on the other hand—for the 
same persons who profess to regard the perfection of 
one class of pagans as all but inimitable, can, with 
singular versatility, pronounce another class irreclaimable 
—in vain would they now refuse the claims and rights 
of humanity to any portion of the species. u Ten years 
ago,” says the Reportf for 1820, of an American Mis¬ 
sionary Society, “the Aborigines of our country were 
regarded by this great community, with the exception 
of here and there an individual, as an utterly intractable 
race, never to be brought within the pale of civilized 
society, but doomed by unalterable destiny to melt away 
and become extinct; and a spirit of vengeance and of 
extermination was breathed out against them in many 
parts of our land. Now, the whole nation is moved by 
a very different spirit.” The Missionary experiment 
has determined that there is no form of humanity, 
however lost to civilization, which cannot be restored 
to it; or however sunk in the brute, which cannot 

* Foster’s incomparable Missionary Discourse, or profound Trea¬ 
tise, bound up with his Essay on Popular Ignorance, p. 422. 

f The eleventh annual Report of the American Board of Com¬ 
missioners of Foreign Missions. 


232 


REFLEX BENEFITS OF 


be raised, recovered, and taught to hold communion 
with the skies. 

And almost equally in vain will it soon be for the 
disciples of the French naturalists to continue to deny 
the origin of the race in a single pair. u God has made 
of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of 
the earth.” In this doctrine of a common nature, and 
the consequent closeness of relationship among all the 
branches of the human family, is laid the foundation 
of all the social affections and duties. Whatever tends 
to confirm this doctrine therefore, must be pronounced 
of vital importance. Now the philological labours of 
the Christion Missionary are serving to simplify that 
process which goes to show that all the known languages 
of the earth are but dialects of one now most probably 
lost.* Besides which, the identity of effect which the 
preaching of the Gospel universally produces, contri¬ 
butes a new and satisfactory species of evidence of the 
identity of the origin of all mankind. When we see 
how Christ was “ followed by the Greek, though a 
founder of none of his sects ; is revered by the Brahmin, 
though preached to him by men of the fisherman’s caste ; 
worshipped by the red man of Canada though belong¬ 
ing to the hated pale race ; we cannot but consider him 
as destined to break down all distinction of colour, and 
shape, and countenance, and habits : and to form in 
himself, the type of unity to which are referable all the 
sons of Adam, and to give us, in the possibility of this 
moral convergence, the strongest proof that the human 
species, however varied, is essentially one.”f 

3. But not only has the Christian Missionary contri¬ 
buted to correct and enlarge our views of the distant 
branches of the human family, in numerous instances 
he has been the means of correcting and elevating their 
views of our character. Numerous and substantial 

* The French Academy, after long research and deliberation, 
have given to this view their decided approbation: so also Schlegel 
and other distinguished scholars. 

f Wiseman’s Lectures, vol. i. p. 257. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


233 


services have accrued lo the European from this source, 
especially in the islands of the Pacific. The single 
illustration we shall cite, however, has its scene in semi- 
civilized India. “ Do not send to me any of your 
agents,” said Hyder Ali, in his messages to the council 
at Madras, “for I do not trust their words or treaties; 
but, if you wish me to listen to your proposals, send 
to me the Missionary Swartz, of whose character I hear 
so much from every one—him I will receive and trust.” 
And in his letters to the Marquis Cornwallis, General 
Fullarton writes, “ On our second march, we were 
visited by the Rev. Mr. Swartz, whom your lordship 
and the Board requested to proceed to Seringapatam, as 
a faithful mediator between Tippoo and the Commis¬ 
sioners. The knowledge and integrity of this irre¬ 
proachable Missionary have retrieved the character of 
Europeans for imputations of general depravity 

4. To a very considerable extent, Christian Missions 
have been instrumental also in the preservation of 
European life. On the capitulation of Cuddalore in 
1782, the influence and efforts of Gericke were the 
means of saving numbers from the fangs of Hyder, and 
from all the accumulated miseries which he heaped on 
his victims.f 

“When bishop Johannes de Watteville was on a 
visitation of the negro congregations in the Danish 
West India Islands, the governor pointed to the Church 
of the Missionaries and remarked, that it was the prin¬ 
cipal fortress, and considered by him as the great safe¬ 
guard of the island. He added, that before it was 
built, he had not ventured to sleep a night out of the 
fortress on his plantation ; but now he had no fear; for 
even if there was a conspiracy among the slaves, 
the Christian slaves were sure to hear of, and to dis¬ 
cover it.J 

But on this important though incidental service ren- 

* See Gutzlaff on this subject, Voyages, p. 58. 

| Smith and Choules’ History of Missions, vol. i. p. SI. 

! Ryan’s Effects of Religion on Mankind, p. 229. 

20 * 


234 


REFLEX BENEFITS OF 


dered by Christian Missions, the u Evidence on the 
Aborigines” abounds with illustrations. When, in 
consequence of unprovoked injuries inflicted by whalers 
and others, the natives have determined to seize in blind 
retaliation on the next European vessel that touches 
their shores, the Missionary has often succeeded in 
dissuading them from the execution of their fatal pur¬ 
pose.* Disputes, which could have ended only in per¬ 
sonal conflicts between European crews and native 
tribes, have been terminated amicably by Missionary 
mediation.! And even when a conflict of mutual de¬ 
struction has actually occurred, the Missionary station 
—as in the late insurrection of the CafFres—has been 
a city of refuge to the fugitive European. Not only 
were their own lives saved, but owing to the influence 
which they possessed, they were the means of preserving 
several of the traders-! 

5. This reminds us that commerce itself is under no 
small obligations to Missionary influence. In vain 
were all the attempts of the colonial government to 
establish a commercial intercourse with the CafFre 
tribes, until the Christian Missionary had gained a 
footing amongst them.§ But not only does he now 
form a connecting link in the chain of civilization 
between the colonies and the CafFres and other tribes ;|| 
by the introduction of the plough, he is likely to be 
the means of turning the attention of the Aborigines 
from pastoral to agricultural pursuits ; in consequence 
of which their cattle will no longer prove a source of 
irritation and conflict with the frontier colonists,IT and 
a much narrower compass of land will be sufficient for 
their comfortable support.** 

New Zealand is unquestionably the key to India, 
on the one hand, as the Cape of Good Hope is on the 
other. And if, as events increasingly indicate, a wise 
policy should require our Government to enter into a 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 47, 48, 285. 

f Idem, p. 207. ^ Idem, p. 344. § Idem, p. 339. 

|| Idem, p. 346. if Idem, p. 155. ** Idem, p. 93. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


235 


friendly treaty with that country, the measure would be 
greatly facilitated, if not entirely owing, to the favour¬ 
able predisposition created in our behalf by Missionary 
influence.* 

Up to a very recent period the South Sea Islands 
were, in a commercial point of view, a complete blank; 
but now they are made to contribute to our wants, 
and to take off our manufactures, to a considerable 
extent.f Sugar is cultivated, and taken in native 
built vessels to the colony of New South Wales 
and more arrow root has been brought from thence 
to England in one year, than had been imported for 
nearly twenty previous years.§ Between two and three 
hundred thousand of the natives are now wearing 
European clothing, and using European implements 
and articles, who a few years ago knew nothing of our 
manufactures. || 

6. The shipping of our country , too , derive as much 
advantage from Christian Missions as its commerce. 
This will appear, if it be recollected that intercourse 
between Europeans and the untaught islanders of the 
Pacific is always dangerous, and has often proved fatal. 
The adventurous Magellan fell at the Ladrone Islands; 
Captain Cook was barbarously murdered at the Sand¬ 
wich group; the ship Venus was taken at Tahiti; 
M. de Langle and his companions were killed at the 
Samoas; the Port au Prince was seized at Lefuga; 
and the crew of the Boyd were massacred at New 
Zealand. And now, at all these islands, with the 
exception of the Ladrones, there are Missionary sta¬ 
tions, where between two and three hundred vessels 
annually resort; the crews of which look forward with 
delight to the hour when the anchor shall be dropped 
in the tranquil lagoon, and they shall find a generous 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 85. 

f Idem, p. 314; and Howitt’s Colonization and Christianity, pp. 
440, 441. 

\ Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 179. § Idem, p. 180. 

II Idem, p. 311. 


236 


REFLEX BENEFITS OF 


welcome and a temporary home. Here, at the smallest 
possible expense, the captains can obtain a supply of 
fresh meat and provisions, refit their vessels, and re¬ 
cruit their crews.* 

Formerly also when a wreck occurred, the natives 
hastened to plunder and murder; or reserved those 
who escaped from the sea, for sacrifices. Witness the 
unhappy sufferers of the Charles Eaton, and the still 
more recent massacre of Captain Fraser and his crew 
on the coast of New Holland. But now, wherever 
Christianity has been introduced, the occurrence of a 
wreck is the signal for the exercise of the kindest 
feelings towards the sufferers themselves, and of the 
greatest zeal for the protection of their property. The 
Falcon, the Sir Charles Price, and several other vessels, 
have been cast away at or near such stations ; and not 
only have the captains and others attested that “not a 
nail was lost,” and that all the attention was given to 
their personal comfort which kindness could bestow, 
but thousands of pounds have been transmitted to 
England and America as the proceeds arising from the 
sale of property saved on such occasions by native 
activity and zeal.f Thus, many a Christian Missionary 
is, in effect, a British Consul of the most unexpensive 
and efficient kind; and his congregation a society for 
the protection of British lives and property. While 
the Missionary enterprise itself, by finding new havens 
at the antipodes for our fleets, opening new channels 
for our commerce, and every where multiplying the 
friends of our country, is eminently conducive to the 
prosperity of its temporal interests. 

Such, we repeat, is the imposing magnitude to which 
this class of its results has now attained, that men who 
care not for any other or higher benefit, acknowledge 
that this alone would amply repay the efforts by which 
it has been gained. But though the benefits we have 

* Williams’s Missionary Enterprises, pp. 584, 585. 

t Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 183 ; and Williams’s speech be¬ 
fore the Common Council. 


CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


237 


now specified possess all the importance attached to 
them ; and though they are among the first to catch 
the eye in a survey like the present, we conceive that 
there are others of the same class of greater moment 
still. In closing our estimate of the temporal good 
accruing to the heathens from Christian Missions, we 
remarked on the surpassing value of the services which 
they have rendered to negro emancipation, and to 
general colonization. And in concluding this brief 
account of their reflex temporal effects on ourselves, 
we cannot but avow our belief that their chief national 
value will hereafter be found to have consisted in the 
influence which they have shed on the same great 
objects. The full and distinct proof of this would 
doubtless require a large induction of historical 
facts. We will only ask, however,—where now are 
the possessions of that kingdom, whose armies and 
governors, with savage cruelty, exterminated the Caribs, 
the Mexicans, and the children of the sun ? In whose 
hands are the Floridas, Mexico, Darien, Terra Firma, 
Buenos Ayres, Paraguay, Chili, Peru, and California ? 
But if there be any truth in the doctrine of Divine 
retribution, or any thing fearful in the Divine displea¬ 
sure, then every one admitting the guilt of slavery 
and the criminal spirit of our colonial conduct, will 
instantly grant that the Missionary enterprise, by 
powerfully tending to abolish the former, and to ameli¬ 
orate the latter, has instrumentally averted a great 
national curse, and has proved a proportionate national 
blessing. The magnitude of the blessing indeed is 
unknown; for its moral influence will continue to 
extend through every coming generation of mankind, 
and its value to increase with every moment of time. 



238 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


SECTION II. 

THE REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

Before the distant regions of the earth are likely to 
be turned to the knowledge of the truth, says Douglas 
in his Advancement of Society, England herself will 
be evangelized in the act of evangelizing other nations. 
Whatever inay be thought of this remark, we would 
venture to ask, if the sole object of Christian activity 
within the last fifty years had been the advancement of 
religion in our own land, in what other way could it 
have been better promoted than it has been by sending 
the Gospel abroad ? In other words, had the same 
amount of money and effort which the Missionary object 
has absorbed, been devoted to the diffusion of the 
Gospel at home, is there any reason to believe that 
our country would have reaped greater spiritual benefit 
than it is now enjoying by the reflex influence of Chris¬ 
tian Missions ? The particulars following will furnish 
materials for a correct reply. 

1. It is not for us to say at what moment, or 
in what mind, the heavenly purpose arose which God 
has graciously made the occasion of modern Mission¬ 
ary instrumentality. Even were the circumstances sub¬ 
mitted to our investigation, they would probably 
present a web of mutual influence far too compli¬ 
cated for us to unravel. To the eye of God, how¬ 
ever, such a mind, and such a moment, are doubt¬ 
less present. The conception of the purpose was an 
era in the history of the Christian Church, comparable 
only with the Reformation itself. And not less event¬ 
ful to the moral condition of the world at large was 
the moment which saw its birth, than the hour in 
which Columbus determined to give a new world to 
the old, to their temporal concerns. And here, be it 
remarked, that he who hath made it <c more blessed 
to give than to receive,” began to bless the giver even 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


239 


before he could begin to impart;—in the very act of 
intending and arranging to give. The mere announce¬ 
ment of the project was a blessing. If only by help¬ 
ing to break up the monotony which extensively pre¬ 
vailed in the religious services and topics of the day , 
it rendered a service to the Church, which those who 
are accustomed to the variety of the present time can 
scarcely estimate. 

2. The striking manner in which the Missionary 
enterprise enlivened the piety , and increased the happi¬ 
ness^ of those who first espoused it, may be illustrated 
best by the following quotations. u There was a period 
of my ministry,” said the devoted Andrew Fuller to a 
friend, u marked by the most pointed systematic effort 
to comfort my serious people; but the more I tried 
to comfort them, the more they complained of doubts 
and darkness .... I knew not what to do, nor what 
to think, for I had done my best to comfort the mourn¬ 
ers in Zion. At this time it pleased God to direct 
my attention to the claims of the perishing heathen in 
India ; I felt that we had been living for ourselves, 
and not caring for their souls. I spoke as I felt. My 
serious people wondered and wept over their past 
inattention to the subject. They began to talk about 
a Baptist Mission. The females especially began to 
collect money for the spread of the Gospel. We met 
and prayed for the heathen ; met and considered what 
could be done amongst ourselves for them; met and 
did what we could. And, whilst all this was going on, 
the lamentations ceased. The sad became cheerful, 
and the desponding calm. No one complained of a 
want of comfort. And I, instead of having to study 
how to comfort my flock, was myself comforted by 
them. They were drawn out of themselves. Sir, that 
was the real secret. God blessed them while they 
tried to be a blessing.” 

“ After the departure of our brethren”—the first 
Baptist Missionaries to India—says the brief narrative 


240 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


of the Baptist Mission,* “ we had time for reflection. 
In reviewing the events of a few preceding months, 
we were much impressed. The thought of having done 
something towards enlarging the boundaries of our 
Saviour’s kingdom, and of rescuing poor heathens and 
Mahommedans from under Satan’s yoke, rejoiced our 
hearts. We were glad also to see the people of God 
offering so willingly ; some leaving their country, others 
pouring in their property, and all uniting in prayers 
to Heaven for a blessing. A new bond of union was 
formed between distant ministers and churches. Some 
who had backslidden from God were restored; and 
others who had long been poring over their unfruit¬ 
fulness, and questioning the reality of their personal 
religion, having their attention directed to Christ and 
his kingdom, lost their fears and found that peace 
which in other pursuits they had sought in vain. In 
short, our hearts were enlarged ; and, if no other good 
had arisen from the undertaking than the effect produced 
upon our own minds, and the minds of Christians in our 
own country, it was more than equal to the expense.”! 

3. The benefit of Christian activity became general; 
for the Missionary spirit, seizing in steady succession 
the various sections of the Christian community , quick¬ 
ened them all into emulation. The movement of one 
department was a signal for the movement of every 
other. And long before the last tribe of our British 
Israel had unfurled its banners and followed the van, 
the Churches of America, excited by our example, 
gave “note of preparation,” and took the field. In 
equally quick succession, their tribes came “forth to 
the help of the Lord,” and were soon seen “provoking 
one another to love and to good works.” Nor indeed 
has the hallowed provocation on either side of the 
Atlantic been confined, subsequently, to its own hemi- 

* Second Report of the Southern Board [American] of Foreign 
Missions. 

f Smith and Choules’ History of Missions, vol. i. p. 189. 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


241 


sphere. The identity of our object has given us a 
reciprocity of influence which places each separate 
portion of our respective communities under the im¬ 
pulse of the whole ; so that a movement made by one 
is almost instantly felt by all. What an illustration 
has the working of our Missionary institutions thus 
created, of the incalculable value and power of Chris¬ 
tian influence. 

4. Nor was the institution of one Missionary Society 
a signal for the establishment of other societies of the 
same kind merely. The Spirit of God had moved upon 
the face of the ecclesiastical waters, and each succeed¬ 
ing period was distinguished by creations of its own. 
Like a true scion from the life-giving tree of prophetic 
vision, which “bare twelve manner of fruits,” the Mis¬ 
sionary enterprise soon found itself the stock of various 
kindred institutions. While, judging from the subse¬ 
quent: renovation of some other societies of a prior 
existence, it has had the effect of fertilizing and im¬ 
proving institutions which it has not originated. So 
that, pointing at many of our associations and efforts 
for the distribution of Bibles and tracts ; for the esta¬ 
blishment of Sunday-schools, and the advancement of 
village evangelization, we may ask, which of these did 
not receive either its existence, or its impulse, from the 
Missionary enterprise ? 

5. And thus we have been gradually regaining the 
long-forgotten, but invaluable conviction, that the cause 
of religion at home and abroad is one. If Christian 
Missions have taught us, on the one hand, that the 
same principles which prompt us to train up our chil¬ 
dren in the fear of God, and to seek the salvation of 
those immediately around us, impel to evangelical 
efforts for the benefit of every portion of the human 
race, and that to attempt to separate living piety from 
expansive beneficence is almost as vain as it is unscrip- 
tural, by bringing to light new and fearful scenes of 
foreign destitution, and by thus arousing attention and 
quickening our Christian sensibilities, they have been 

21 


242 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


the means, on the other, of preparing us to feel a live¬ 
lier interest in the claims of home. Evils to which we 
had become resigned, because they were continually 
before our eyes, and which escaped our animadversion 
almost as much as if they formed an inseparable part 
of the course of nature, have consequently been not 
only deplored, but successfully assailed. The reasons 
which are assigned for sending the Gospel abroad, are 
felt to acquire augmented force when applied to the 
wants of the perishing at home. Besides which, the 
efforts which are made abroad, are found to demand 
more than an equal effort at home to supply their 
expenditure. While this improvement at home, de¬ 
manding a wider sphere than the country which gave 
it birth, is transferred to the unlimited range of Mis¬ 
sionary labour; and thus the infant-school of yesterday 
has its counterpart to-day in the glens of Africa, the 
Australian wilderness, and the islands of the Pacific; 
and what is gained for humanity in any one spot, is 
found not to impoverish any other, but to be gained 
for humanity throughout the w T orld.* 

6. By this and similar means, the views of the 
Christian Church have been greatly enlarged. The 
Missionary enterprise could have been conceived only 
on the top of Pisgah. It refuses to entertain any 
design less than the amelioration of the species. Taking 
it for granted that every true interest is universal, it 
consults as it prosecutes its march, the map of the 
world. Its appropriate type is an angel flying through 
the midst of heaven. 

Even the discovery of a new continent, and the en¬ 
largement of the universe by the invention of the 
telescope, gave an impulse to Europe, the force of 
which is still felt, and still carrying us forward. And 
should the objects and prospects of the Missionary 
enterprise produce impressions less powerful or sublime ? 
So lofty is the mount of contemplation to which it 

* Douglas’ Advancement of Society, &c., p. 216. 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


243 


conducts us,—so boundless the prospect which it there 
stretches before us,—and so completely does it familiar¬ 
ize our minds with the vast designs of God, and the 
ample plans of his providence, that our purposes may 
well seem to enlarge greatly beyond the proportion of 
our means. The statesman, who plans only to preserve 
the balance of empire, and whose scheme embraces an 
age beyond his own, is praised for the reach and com¬ 
prehensiveness of his views. But what are the pur¬ 
poses formed, and the ends aimed at, by the friends of 
Missions ? They lie in a sphere so lofty, that the 
ambition of the w ? arrior has never reached it, and re¬ 
quire so ample a scope, that the policy of the statesman 
would be spent in it and lost. Their field is the world ; 
and their aim is to carry the torch of truth into the 
shadow of death; to prepare the savage for society, and 
to give society a sure foundation; to rescue the slave 
from his chains, and to welcome him to the liberty of 
the Gospel; to hush the discord of war, and to restore 
the various branches of the human race to each other 
by restoring them to God; and to see all the crowns 
of the world at the feet of Christ. These are their 
daily thoughts—their most familiar designs. If true 
greatness ennobles whatever it touches, must not the 
Missionary enterprise tend to dignify all who voluntarily 
come under its influence ? By employing us as its 
agents, it has involved us in the mightiest conflict which 
the universe ever saw, and has invested us with its own 
exalted character. It has given to the prayer, “thy 
kingdom come,” a sublimity in ten thousand eyes, 
which would otherwise have been blind to its grandeur. 
And twice ten thousand who, but for it, would most 
likely have been immured at this moment within their 
little denominational enclosure, and complaining, like 
Elijah, of their supposed isolation, are exhorting each 
other in the glowing language of Isaiah, and saying, u Lift 
up thine eyes round about, and see ; all they gather them¬ 
selves together, they come to thee ; thy sons come from 
afar, and thy daughters are nursed at thy side. Then 


244 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall 
fear and be enlarged; because the abundance of the 
sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gen¬ 
tiles shall come unto thee.” 

7. But such Christian enlargement of spirit leads to 
the sympathetic union of all who become conscious of 
its expanding influence. True, it must be deplored 
with deep humiliation before God that the cementing 
tendency of Christian Missions has of late years met 
with lamentable interruptions. In the midst of those 
very interruptions, however, the Missionary spirit, by 
often triumphing over them, has been the means of 
exemplifying the surpassing power of genuine piety, 
and of furnishing the strongest ground to hope for their 
final and utter removal. Forgetting their scruples and 
their preferences, the friends of Missions have at times 
been seen according their hearty support of the glorious 
Gospel, by whomsoever diffused. With a happy in¬ 
consistency they have hailed the Missionary successes 
of others, and have thus crossed the denominational 
line of separation, and seized the fruits which belong 
to a season of visible union. While, by every prayer 
they have breathed for Missionary efforts, they have 
been virtually affirming and consecrating this catholic 
principle, that it is becoming, and scriptural, to aid the 
diffusion of the Gospel abroad, whoever the Christian 
agents may be ; and to aid them in the mightiest of 
all forms, by invoking in their behalf the blessing of God. 

But besides affirming this great principle of Christian 
sympathy, under circumstances the most adverse to 
more visble and entire union, the Missionary enterprise 
has been extensively the means, under God, of pre¬ 
venting many a rupture which would otherwise have 
occurred, and of strengthening many a bond of attach¬ 
ment which would else have been burst asunder. As 
a fine illustration, we quote the following extract from 
the Report* of an American Missionary Society :— 

* Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the American Board of Com¬ 
missioners for Foreign Missions, 1834, pp. 30, 31. 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


245 


u The whole business of forming these Boards [of 
Foreign Missions] was conducted in all three of the 
Synods with entire unanimity, and was felt by all to 
have exerted on these bodies, and on the cause of reli¬ 
gion as they are related to it, a most happy influence. 
In the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, the 
business was concluded by the unanimous adoption of 
the following resolution :— c Resolved,—That this Synod 
acknowledge with gratitude, the goodness of God, in 
bringing before them the great subject of Foreign 
Missions, and in directing them to a unanimous and 
blessed result.And a member of the Synod, a pastor 
of one of its most important churches, speaks of the 
influence of these proceedings as follows, in a letter to 
one of the secretaries : u This Synod has been by it 
saved from disunion and discord. It has been har¬ 
monized and united. It has been melted down into 
one mass. It has now one soul, and breathes one sen¬ 
timent—to live, not for ourselves, or our own sectional 
interests, but for the conversion of the world. Such 
a happy, holy, rejoicing, and blessed meeting of Synod 
has never, according to the opinion of the eldest mem¬ 
bers, been witnessed and enjoyed. There were dark 
and portentous clouds hanging over it. Every mind 
was filled with apprehension. Each feared to ask the 
sentiment of his brother. But the clouds are dispersed 
and gone. Our fears are changed into joys, and we 
parted from each other in the warmest interchange of 
brotherly affection. And all is attributable—and, by 
a solemn recorded resolution of the Synod, is ascribed 
—to the discussion of the Missionary subject, and 
engagement in the Missionary cause. The scene which 
occurred when we all stood up, after uniting in prayer, 
to adopt the whole constitution, was overpowering. 
There were few dry eyes, even of those unused to 
tears. There were frequent and loud sobbings. There 
was the solemnity of eternity. There was the cool 
intrepidity of a band of soldiers, preparing for a charge 
upon the citadel of an armed and enraged enemy. 

21* 


246 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


After adopting the constitution, we sang the Mission¬ 
ary hymn, when it seemed that heaven heard the sound, 
and earth responded with a glad c Amen.’ ” 

8. But the same Missionary enlargement of spirit 
which tends to unite all who partake of it into one 
sympathetic brotherhood, has also led to the willing 
consecration of their property. Such was the boundless 
benevolence of Christ, that “for the joy set before 
him,” and which consisted partly in the prospect of 
human salvation, he “endured the cross, despising 
the shame.” Was it then to be wondered at if his 
professed followers should so far share in his benevo¬ 
lence as to contribute a portion of their property for 
an object for which he gave “ his own self?” Accord¬ 
ingly, the widow has been seen casting into the Mission 
treasury of her penury, and the rich man of his 
abundance ; and though the scale of Christian liberality 
is still far below the standard of the gospel, yet how 
much lower would it have been, humanly speaking, 
but for the ennobling influence of Christian Missions ? 
How many have been led to abandon the notion, 
that we may allowably hoard up our property while 
we live, if we will only make a religious bequest of 
a certain proportion of it at death ! Strange as it 
would have appeared to us all a few years ago, and 
strange as it seems even now to those who are behind 
their age, Christians can be found whose religious 
charities considerably exceed a tenth of their income. 
Millions have been contributed to Christian Missions, 
a large proportion of which would otherwise have been 
given to “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life.” And the number is in¬ 
creasing of those who are ready to add to their other 
offerings upon the altar, themselves, and their children. 

In three respects especially has the Missionary en¬ 
terprise produced a most salutary effect on Christian 
liberality. It has shown that, like every other dis¬ 
position, benevolence is strengthened by exercise ; for 
in proportion as information concerning heathen 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


247 


wretchedness and Christian obligation to alleviate it 
has been circulated, every increased demand for Chris¬ 
tian charity has been regularly met with an increased 
supply. 2. It has led many who gave from impulse 
only to contribute from principle, and on a system; 
and has thus given to charity the character of a holy 
philosophy. 3. And it has produced an auspicious 
dissatisfaction with the highest scale of liberality 
hitherto attained, and awakened a conviction that the 
pecuniary resources of a Church adequately alive to 
its obligations would, under the Divine administration of 
Him who multiplied a morsel into a feast for five thou¬ 
sand, prove indefinite and inexhaustible. 

9. Nor has the Missionary enterprise less directly 
tended to awaken and cherish a spirit of prayer. We 
have already spoken of the period when monthly 
Missionary meetings for prayer were commenced as 
an era in the history of Christian Missions ; and though 
every division of the Christian community may not 
have formally adopted the same course, there is no 
portion perhaps which has not in consequence been 
favourably influenced; certainly none which the Mis¬ 
sionary spirit has not quickened into increased devotion. 
Owing to the same cause, how much greater a promi¬ 
nence has been given to the doctrine of Divine in¬ 
fluence, and how much more deeply have thousands 
felt their dependence upon it ! How many a public 
meeting has solemnly resolved to the effect, “ That, 
recognizing their dependence on the gracious agency 
of the Holy Spirit for all success in labours for saving 
the heathen, and the indispensable importance of fervent 
and importunate supplication to Almighty God for 
this purpose,” Christians should be exhorted and excited 
to increased intercession. And how many an instance 
of private devotion has ensued, unknown to man, but 
witnessed by angels, and recorded in heaven, in which 
such resolutions have been carried into effect “ with 
strong crying and tears.” Indeed, what is now the 


248 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


one ardent all-comprehending desire of the holiest 
portion of the Christian Church but this, <c Let the 
whole earth be filled with his glory;” a desire which, 
in the eye of God, is equally a prayer, whether it 
be “uttered or unexpressed;” so that it may be 
regarded as always ascending ; a desire which gives 
birth in every heart that cherishes it to a thousand 
kindred desires, each of which brings down the Divine 
blessing, not on the Missionary enterprise alone, but 
on the entire field of Christian activity; and a desire 
which, as it cannot be urged in prayer without being 
fulfilled, so it cannot be fulfilled without multiplying 
the number of Christian suppliants, and thus filling 
the Church with intercessors for the world. “ O thou 
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.” 

10. What noble specimens of Christian character 
has the Missionary enterprise given to the Church 
and to the world l The enterprise itself is a pure 
creation of Christianity. It is a combination, not of 
the worldly and selfish to advance their own peculiar 
interests; not of the powerful and the wealthy to 
tyrannize over the poor and the helpless; but an 
association of the great and the good, of the aged 
pastor, the ardent Missionary, and the young disciple,— 
of all that is excellent in the Christian Church ; an 
association in which the wealth of the affluent, the 
tongue of the learned, the prayer of the poor, and the 
mite of the widow are combined and engaged to give 
the Gospel to all the tribes and nations of the earth. 

But among the friends and agents of this unworldly 
confederation there are some whose character shines 
with peculiar lustre. Here female piety has recovered 
and displayed anew the glory which it won when it 
wept at the cross, and w r as early at the sepulchre. 
Here offerings more costly than those of the u sweet 
spices” of the sepulchre have been presented by the 
Christian Marys of modern times. Here many a 
mother, whom the world knows not, has, in the depth 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


249 


of her own heart, like the mother of Mills,* dedicated 
her offspring to a post of distant labour. What 
Spartan mother of old, when buckling on the armour 
of her son, and bidding him, as she gave him his 
shield, “either to bring it back, or to be brought 
back upon it,” can compare with the widowed mother 
of Lyman, when she replied to the intelligence that 
her son had been murdered by the cannibal Battas, 
“ I bless God, who gave me such a son to go to 
the heathen, and I never felt so strongly as I do at 
this moment the desire that some others of my sons 
may become Missionaries also, and may go and preach 
salvation to those savage men who have drunk the 
blood of my son.”f What ancient Hebrew women, 
receiving “their dead raised to life again,” surpassed 
the self-denying faith of the widowed mother who 
could say of a son to whom herself and her seven 
children were beginning to look for support, “Let 
him go ; God will provide for me and my babes. And 
who am I, that I should be thus honoured to have 
a son a Missionary to the heathen ?” and who, when 
that son had laboured successfully in India, and had 
died, could say of a second who aspired to walk in 
the footsteps of his brother, “Let William follow 
Joseph, though it be to India and an early grave ?”£ 
Here the accomplished and highly intellectual female 
may be seen meekly, yet firmly, devoting herself to 
a distant and arduous career; vieing with the hero 
in his defiance of dangers, and with the martyr in 
the endurance of them. If self-devotion deserve our 
applause, who can present a stronger claim than Harriet 
Newell ? If the heroic endurance of suffering is to 
be embalmed in the memory, who deserves a brighter 
memorial than Anne Hazeltine Judson ? 

But to speak of all the examples of moral greatness 
associated with the Missionary enterprise, is to speak 

* Smith and Choules’ History of Missions, vol. ii. p. 234. 

f Holt’s Missionary Anecdotes, p. 260. $ Idem, p. 262. 


250 


KEFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


of a number which “ the time would fail me to tell.” 
Who does not think of those men of the Western 
wilderness who first taught us in modern times how 
the savage is to be reclaimed ? Who does not think 
of the Moravian heroes of Greenland and Labrador 
in the north: of the early mission to Tranquebar 
in the east; and of those who first toiled and fell 
in Africa, south ? and who can think of them without 
feeling that, under God, they and their successors 
have served, and saved the character of, the Christian 
Church ? 

To admire self-devotion and noble daring in theory 
only is cheap virtue ; and yet, prior to the rise of 
Missions but few Christians were doing more than 
this. If the rising offspring of religious parents would 
read of wasting privations endured, of dangers braved 
and vanquished, and of conflicts attempted and achieved, 
—the most attractive topics for the young, they had 
to seek them in the pages of the enterprising merchant, 
the soldier, or the scientific traveller. To practise 
self-denial which should be repaid only by conscience, 
to think of beneficence without fame, to do anything 
more than admire the disinterested zeal of the Re¬ 
formers, Confessors, and Missionaries of former times, 
would have been deemed not less impracticable by 
the church, generally, than irrational by the world. 
Now to the men who have been raised up by God 
in the service of modern Missions we are greatly in¬ 
debted for the termination of this guilty delusion. 
They have shown that the Church need not be tame 
and uninteresting in its character; that the world need 
not be allowed to monopolize all that is fascinating in 
youthful eyes ; that real greatness need not be suspended 
in the clouds, and admired as a rainbow ; but that it 
may be brought down and embodied in actual life. Who 
does not feel that their example has instrumentally 
created in the Church the atmosphere of a nobler 
piety, and that we are living under its influence ? 

The lowest benefit they have conferred is, that 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


251 


they have robbed the apathetic of their plea; so that, 
till the voice of history shall be dumb, wherever an 
effort shall be made to invade the kingdom of darkness, 
their example will be present to silence the objection 
that though the theory is good, it is impossible to 
put it in practice. There is virtue even in their 
memory. It imposes a restraint on the worldliness 
of thousands. As their professed admirers, we feel 
ourselves bound not to fall too glaringly below their 
standard of excellence. 

But if they are only preventing some from falling 
below a certain point, they are exciting numbers to rise. 
And who does not recognise the wisdom of God in 
appointing that some of the pioneers in the modern 
Missionary field should have been giants in holy daring 
and strength ? and as such, fitted to be exemplars to 
all who came after them in the same career. In the 
vocabulary of the church, their names have become 
synonymes for every species of active excellence. Eliot, 
Zeisberger, and Brainerd, are but other names for inde¬ 
fatigable labour and enterprise, and self-consuming 
ardour. We think of Swartz, and the might of 
character. The accomplished youth, panting to live 
for Christ in distant lands, but derided as a visionary, 
thinks of Martyn, and takes courage. Pious and dis¬ 
interested poverty reads of Carey, and emerges from its 
humble cell to perform labours which excite the devout 
thanksgiving of the Church. Faith looks at the origin 
and early history of the Moravian Mission, and, undis¬ 
mayed by the scantiness of her human resources, girds 
up the loins of her mind, and addresses herself to her 
task afresh. Their biography is creating for the Church 
a literature of its own. Their example is reproducing 
itself in a second race. To the influence of Brainerd, 
the Church is chiefly indebted, under God, for the 
labours of a Milne. The pious father gives their names 
to his sons, as a title of excellence, and an incitement 
to attain it. Their zeal for God has kindled a fire at 
which numbers daily are lighting their torch. And 


252 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


thus, in various ways, have they given ardour to holy 
activity, and multiplied the power of truth; while the 
Church below unites with the Church above in “ glo¬ 
rifying God in them.” 

11. Owing to some of the particulars last enumerated, 
it is, that the Christian Church has been gradually 
awakened to the practicability of the Missionary enter¬ 
prise, and to the conviction that it is the duty of all its 
members to espouse it. The rising children of the 
Church may regard this duty as so self-evident that it 
could never have been doubted. They are to be as¬ 
sured, however, that its practical admission is but of 
recent date, and that their fathers in Christ had first 
to be convinced of it themselves, and then laboriously 
to convince others. They are to be assured that it was 
but as yesterday that Christians generally were re¬ 
garding the enormous abominations of paganism with a 
kind of submissive awe, as if they had been inevitable 
conditions of humanity; or, if they thought of their 
ultimate removal, it was expected only as the result of 
a miraculous intervention which it was almost pre¬ 
sumptuous in them to urge, and in prospect of which 
it became them rather to u stand still and see the sal¬ 
vation of God.” Meanwhile, the heathen were perish¬ 
ing through their neglect. He who had laid all their 
powers under tribute for the service, was “walking in 
the midst” of them, and repeating, u Go into ail the 
world, preach my gospel to every creature,” and the 
guilt of centuries of disobedience, accumulated at their 
door, was daily and hourly rising higher. Who then 
can duly estimate the magnitude of the benefit conferred 
on the Church, by that instrumentality by which it has 
been aroused to attempt the salvation of those heathen, 
to obey that high command, and, at least, to prevent 
that mountain of guilt from rising higher ? Yet such 
is the nature of the benefit conferred by the Missionary 
enterprise. Not only has it been the means of creating 
lofty specimens of individual Christian character; it 
has given a new character to the collective church. The 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


253 


knowledge which it has circulated even in the most 
retired parts of the country, and among the lowest ranks 
of society, concerning the state of the heathen, has 
moved the compassion of the faithful generally. By 
the enforcement of scriptural obligation on the subject, 
it has made them all feel, in different degrees, that 
every one can do something. By the organization of 
auxiliary Societies, it has excited and engaged the aid 
of the humblest, and seeks to engage the co-operation 
of all. By the noble examples of self-consecration 
which it has placed before the church, numbers have 
been led to inquire whether or not they are living as 
they ought for the conversion of the world. While, 
• with each returning year, the sentiment of a thousand 
resolutions proposed at public meetings, and responded 
to by twice ten thousand hearts is substantially this,— 
<c that more must be done.” In this way the Church 
is becoming more than ever militant and aggressive. 
The spirit of Missions is felt to be the true spirit of the 
Gospel. The noblest ambition is aroused—the ambition 
of turning the world’s darkness into an empire of light 
and peace. 

12. But by conferring this benefit on the Church and 
directing its attention to the state of the world, the 
Missionary enterprise has been gradually reducing the 
strongholds of infidelity , and u taking from it the arms 
wherein it trusted.” As far as the assaults of this 
monster evil have been made, at any time, against the 
grounds of our faith, Christians have only themselves 
to thank. That the world should voluntarily lay aside 
its hostility to holiness, do whatever the Church may, 
is not to be expected ; but that hostility is divisible 
into two kinds—that which is directed against Chris¬ 
tianity, and that which is aimed at its professors. And 
what Christian would not rather that it should be 
levelled at his own character, than at that of the Gospel, 
or of his ever-blessed Lord ? And who does not per¬ 
ceive, judging from the history of the Church, that 
Christians may generally choose which shall be the 

22 


254 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


object of the world’s attack—the Gospel or its pro¬ 
fessors ? Let them take the field ; act on the aggres¬ 
sive ; carry their arms into the enemies’ country ; and 
we hear scarcely a word against the truth of the Gospel; 
we give the world no leisure to indulge in speculative 
scepticism ; it finds enough to do in stigmatizing our 
character as hypocrites, enthusiasts, and fanatics. But 
let us quit the field ; shut ourselves up in self-indul¬ 
gence within the walls of the Church ; and the world 
will advance, as an earthly army in similar circum¬ 
stances would do, and will sap and mine our defences 
as the only means of reaching and destroying us. Our 
indolence, in that case, leaves it nothing else to do. 

Now the effect of modern Missions, on the tactics of • 
infidelity, illustrates the truth of these remarks. Where 
now is the infidelity of Spinosa and the Pantheists ; of 
Bayle and academic doubts ; of Voltaire and ridicule— 
of Hume, Gibbon, and Rousseau ? Since the Missionary 
enterprise commenced, it has almost entirely changed 
its ground, and its weapons. Was it one of its favourite 
objections that the apathy of Christians for the heathen, 
demonstrated that they did not believe their own book ? 
Every additional Missionary that goes forth is assisting 
to convert that objection, from a weapon of attack into 
a means of Christian defence. Was the extreme limita¬ 
tion of Christendom, as compared with the world at 
large, another of the objections on which it relied ? 
Every new region reclaimed from idolatry, and every 
additional church planted in heathen lands, blunt the 
edge of this objection. Aker pointing with scorn at 
the contracted limits of Christendom, did it then pour 
ridicule on Christians for attempting to enlarge those 
bounds ? but this could have arisen only from the sup¬ 
posed impotence of the Gospel by which they proposed 
to effect the change. So conspicuous, however, have 
been the triumphs of the Cross, in many of the most 
hopeless parts of the heathen world, that even the 
magicians of worldly philosophy themselves begin to 
acknowledge that “this is the finger of God,” and todes- 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


255 


pair of ever being able to “do the same with their en¬ 
chantments.” 

13. But besides assisting to disarm infidelity, the 
Missionary enterprise has eminently promoted the cause 
of biblical study , augmented the evidences of Chris¬ 
tianity, and proportionally increased our confidence in 
the divinity of its character, and in the certainty of its 
ultimate triumphs. If sacred science be distributed into 
the critical or verbal, the devout or practical, and the 
scientific or theological, the cultivation of the first of 
these may be considered as laudably characteristic of 
the present day. Now whatever advantage may accrue 
from this source to the cause of truth in general, must 
be ascribed, partly, if not chiefly, to the influence of 
Christian Missions. For by creating a demand for the 
circulation of the Holy Scriptures in heathen lands, and 
by securing their translation into many of the languages 
of the earth, it has, in conjunction with the Bible 
Society, necessarily led to the unprecedented cultivation 
of this important branch of sacred study. And even 
as to the other departments, which we have specified, 
the influence of Missions has conferred on the Church 
a greater benefit than all the theological polemics of 
the last century ; for if it has not confuted any heresy, 
it has rendered perhaps a still more important service, 
in causing some to be practically extinguished and for¬ 
gotten. While, by the new demands which it has de¬ 
volved on the Church, and the new relations which we 
find ourselves called to sustain, the entire Bible has 
come to assume a comparatively Missionary character. 
Not merely single verses, but whole masses of truth, 
have acquired a meaning and an importance in our eyes, 
before unknown. 

The Missionary enterprise has contributed in various 
ways to illustrate the divinity of the Gospel. It as¬ 
sumes that men are every where the same—guilty and 
depraved. But who could be aware of the fact except 
“the God of the whole earth?” When the Gospel 


256 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


was written, vast regions of the earth remained to be 
explored, and populous countries to be discovered. 
How then could the writers of the Gospel have accu¬ 
rately described the character of men in unknown lands, 
if they had not “ spoken as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost ?” Infidelity has often essayed to prove 
that the depravity of man admits of large exceptions; 
that in some states of society he is innocent; and that 
nothing but the discovery of a new people was wanting 
to demonstrate the truth of its theory. Who then could 
sketch a likeness of man, which men of all times and 
tongues should recognise as their own, but he who 
“ knew what was in man ?” By the same means, the 
universal adaptation of the Gospel has received the most 
striking additional proof. Not only have Missionaries 
in India been charged by the natives with forging its 
faithful delineations of heathenism after their arrival in 
that country; but when it has filled the soul with a sense 
of guilt approaching to agony, and which nothing human 
could allay, it has further demonstrated its divinity by 
saying, “Peace, be still, and there was a great calm.” 
How often has the convert from heathenism acknow¬ 
ledged, like Cupido the well known Hottentot, that 
while listening to the Gospel for the first time, he was 
compelled involuntarily to exclaim, “this is the truth; 
that is what I want!” At the bare announcement of 
the words, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin”—the devotee walking on spikes to 
atone for his guilt, has thrown off his torturing sandals, 
and exclaimed, “ This is what I need and has become 
“a living exposition of the truth!” “‘How beautiful, 
how tender, how kind,’—Anundo, a pupil in the 
General Assembly’s school, Calcutta—was often heard 
to exclaim, while reading the sermon on the Mount— 
‘ How full of love and goodness ! Oh how unlike the 
spirit and maxims of Hindooism ! Surely this is the 
truth !’ Never was there a more striking exemplification 
of what Owen calls c the self-evidencing power of the 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


257 


Bible.’”* And so strong and sufficient does this self- 
commending internal evidence prove, that Missionary 
converts are almost uniformly found to embrace the 
Gospel independently of its external proofs. But this 
circumstance itself is additional evidence in its behalf. 
Hindooism, without leaving its native land to challenge 
examination, has been falsified and disproved. The 
microscope alone has laid its pretensions in the dust, by 
proving that the Maker of infusoria and animalcula 
could not have been the author of its Shastres. Geo¬ 
graphy has done the same for Mahometanism, by show¬ 
ing that the “God of the whole earth” could not have 
been the author of the Koran; for to require its dis¬ 
ciples, during the Ramadan, to fast from the rising to 
the setting of the sun, is to proclaim its ignorance of 
the arctic and antarctic circles. But wherever Chris¬ 
tianity has gone, it has derived additional evidence of 
its self-commending excellence and universal adaptation ; 
thus strengthening our conviction that the Maker of 
man and the Author of the Gospel is one—“the only 
living and true God.” 

Still further is this conviction deepened by the 
illustration which the Missionary enterprise affords 
of the saving power of the Gospel. Had the primitive 
Christians been perplexed with doubts concerning the 
sufficiency of the Gospel to meet cases of extreme 
depravity, how eminently fitted was the conversion of 
Saul of Tarsus to remove them ! After him, of whom 
need they despair ? Now that the Christians of modern 
times did very generally entertain doubts of this de¬ 
scription, is matter of authentic record. Whatever they 
might hope from its introduction among the civilized 
and inquiring, they were more than distrustful of its 
reception among the barbarous. How solemn but 
gracious a rebuke then have Missionary successes been 
the means of administering to our unbelief, and what 

* Holt, p. 129; furnished by Rev. Dr. Duff, in the Scots Presby¬ 
terian Review. 


22* 


25S 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


illustrious evidence have they supplied that the Gospel 
is still u the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth.” If Christianity has conquered Tahiti 
and Labrador, New Zealand and CafFraria, what country 
can stand before it when accompanied by the grace of 
its Author ? 

In the history of its progress we recognise almost 
every display of gracious power of which the mind 
can conceive. It has melted the inflexible Iroquois 
into penitence and tears; and has enabled the shrink¬ 
ing Hindoo to brave the loss of caste and the martyr’s 
pangs. By a mightier exorcism than the Negro or the 
Esquimaux had ever imagined, it has delivered the one 
from the enslaving fears of the Obeab, and cast out 
the terrible Torngak from the creed of the other. 
What other evidence of its power can be necessary ? 
Under its subduing and humanizing influence, the 
convert from the frozen zone has been hailed as a 
brother in Christ by the Christian Indian in his native 
wilderness, and the once savage warrior of America 
has sent letters of peace and love to the fisher of 
Greenland. At its sound the barbarian veteran of a 
hundred battles, and of a hundred years, has become 
a little child; and a host of warriors, each of whom 
would once have preferred death to a tear, have wept, 
u so that there was a very great mourning like the mourn¬ 
ing of Hadadrimmon.”* What other evidence can be 
necessary ? Instruments which had never been used 
but for war and murder, it has converted to useful 
and even sacred purposes ;f and tribes which had never 
met but in deadly conflict, it assembles together around 
the table of the Lord. It has declined no contest 
through fear of defeat, and wherever it has gone, it 
has erected monuments of its saving power. 

What other evidence can be necessary ? To my 
mind, says the eloquent Richard Watson, there is 

* Brainerd’s Journal. 

f Ellis’s Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 519. 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


259 


nothing in the history of the Church which so strikingly 
exhibits the power of our religion, as its triumphs 
over the moral evils so uniformly and necessarily in¬ 
herent in a system of slavery. Glorious were the 
effects of Christianity among the slaves of the ancient 
world. It gave cheerfulness to submission, and patience 
to wrong; it created charity where gratitude could 
have no place; shut the lip of reproach, and silenced 
murmuring. But owing to the greater evils of modern 
slavery, religion, in our colonies, has triumphed more 
gloriously still. Its light has penetrated, so to speak, 
the solid darkness of mind left without instruction; 
it has struck the chords of feeling in hearts unaccus¬ 
tomed to salutary emotion ; it has reconciled man to 
the degradation of colour and feature ; it has produced 
charity towards those who have dealt out to them 
the most humbling kinds of insult ; breathed over pas¬ 
sions which when once awakened are terrible, the calm 
of resignation ; and taught the spirit, spurned from 
every other resting place, to rest in God, and to wait 
for his salvation. 

What other evidence of its power can be necessary ? 
Among its converts are men whose depravity would 
have compared with that of a Jeroboam, a Manasseh, 
or a Saul of Tarsus ;—Ananke, the Esquimaux mur¬ 
derer ; and the Mohican, Tschoop, a monster of de¬ 
bauchery and vice ; Africaner, the plunderer of neigh¬ 
bouring tribes, and the destroyer of Missionary settle¬ 
ments ; Tamatoa, once blasphemously worshipped as 
a god ; Vaza, the procurer of human sacrifices ; and 
Romatane, the devastator of islands. By the ministry 
of the Gospel, the Saviour speaks to them, as from 
heaven, and, u behold, they pray !” The epitome of 
vice becomes an epistle of Christ. The demon is trans¬ 
formed into u a pattern of the believers. 57 The san¬ 
guinary chief is the first to beseech and adjure with 
tears of entreaty, those to whom his name had been 
a terror, and whose race he had almost exterminated, 
to embrace salvation. What other evidence of its 


260 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


power can be necessary ? If the success of the Gospel 
on ils first promulgation forms an evidence of its 
divinity, the success of the modern Missionary enter¬ 
prise must be received as an additional evidence to 
the same effect. It has been attended with spiritual 
triumphs of the same kind ; and which can only be 
resolved into the same supernatural cause. Then surely 
our confidence in its sufficiency, as the instrument of 
human salvation, should be proportionally increased. 
Thus it was with the apostles. And if doubts of the 
divine sufficiency of the Gospel ever haunted our 
minds, imparting feebleness to its ministry, and creating 
indifference as to its diffusion, what should, what must 
be the effect of its subsequent triumphs, but to impart 
ardour to our activity, and earnestness to our prayers, 
and a moral dignity to our onward step, eminently 
conducive, through God, to still greater success. 

14. And not only has the Missionary enterprise in¬ 
creased our confidence in the final conversion of the 
heathen, it has been attended by the salvation of many 
of our own countrymen both at home and abroad. In 
commencing our remarks on the reflex spiritual in¬ 
fluence of Christian Missions, we adverted to the service 
they had incidentally rendered the Church in helping 
to break up the prevailing monotony of its religious 
occupations. Who can doubt but that, humanly 
speaking, many a youth whom that monotony would 
have repelled, has been held, by the new attraction 
of Christian activity, in allegiance to the outward ser¬ 
vice of God, till renewing grace has changed his heart ? 
And who can question, but that the Missionary spirit, 
thus excited and bound up with early associations, has 
given its character to the man, and is animating and 
determining the useful course of many who, but for 
this, would have been lost to the Church, and devoted 
to the world ? Indeed, the conversion of some has 
actually taken place, not in the sanctuary and by the 
ordinary means of grace, but at the public meetings 
of our religious societies. 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


261 


Still more marked have been the saving effects of 
the Missionary cause upon our countrymen abroad. 
Between thirty and forty years ago, Buchanan wrote, 
“ there are not ten righteous men to be found in Cal¬ 
cutta.” “At that time,” says another Missionary, 
“ you might have travelled from one extremity of 
India to the other, and have found no premonition of 
the Sabbath-day except the waving of flags at the 
military stations. As to the mercantile classes, to have 
closed a single house of agency on the Sabbath, would 
have been looked on as a strange deviation from the 
customs of commercial life. Now, it would be deemed 
as strange a departure from decorum in India, were a 
single commercial house to keep open its doors on 
that sacred day.” Then, many of our countrymen 
went there, not only almost as much strangers to the 
Gospel of Peace as were the Hindoos and Mahometans 
themselves, but, amidst the polluting influence of 
heathenism, they became ten times more the children 
of hell than they were before they left their native 
shores. Now*, among all classes, but especially the 
various armies in her Majesty’s and in the Honourable 
Company’s service, a redeeming change is exhibited 
to a most remarkable extent. Many an officer emu¬ 
lates the “centurion of the Italian band,” in devout 
and active piety. Many a regiment has its “praying 
company,” and its active agents of Christian benevo¬ 
lence. Many a prodigal has there been met by Mis¬ 
sionary instrumentality; has himself become a Mis¬ 
sionary, and preached the faith which he once de¬ 
stroyed ; and many others, after an absence in India 
of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, have returned to be the 
means of the conversion of their own parents, and to 
prove distinguished blessings where once they had been 
a curse. 

15. And innumerable are the occasions with which 
Christian «.Missions have furnished the Church for 
glorifijing God. Not only did the design itself origi¬ 
nate with God, in the sense of its being a duty to be 


262 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


found in his Gospel, hut, on looking back and remem¬ 
bering the stony indifference to that design evinced by 
the Church in general; and the actual opposition to 
the first steps of the Missionary enterprise, offered by 
many a professed Christian ; and the truly insignificant 
measures in which the work began—measures, in which 
the actors often owed their toleration to contempt— 
who can doubt that the primary human movers were 
themselves moved by God ? If the apostle could say of 
the primitive churches, “they glorified God in me,” 
how often have we been constrained to recognise the 
hand of God in raising up and baptizing with a measure 
of the apostolic spirit many a modern Missionary ! If 
they acknowledge the Divine superintendence in select¬ 
ing their spheres of labour, and preparing the way 
for their successful occupation, how often have we been 
called to adore the presence of the same agency in the 
Missionary field, manifested in unexpected interposi¬ 
tions, in the universal concurrence of multiplied and 
repellent circumstances, and in the issue of the whole 
in some most unforseen success. How 7 many a burst 
of sacred joy has been occasioned by the intelligence of 
new conquests achieved over heathenism, and new 
honours accumulated around the name we love—joy, 
the most pure, ennobling, and rich, which grace can 
awaken in the faithful on earth, and which, more than 
any other sentiment, connects the Church below with 
the Church above in one spontaneous ascription of 
praise. 

As to the manner in which some of the most distin¬ 
guished of these triumphs were won—who can mark 
the sudden abandonment of idolatry in the Polynesian 
islands north and south ; in the latter, when the Mission 
was on the point of being relinquished in despair ; and 
in the former, by the spontaneous will of the natives 
before any Missionary had reached them, without per¬ 
ceiving how evidently God designed to secure the glory 
of the work to himself? How often and how emphati¬ 
cally have we been taught the same lesson by the 


OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 


263 


superior success which has crowned the artless efforts 
of the native teachers—success which has frequently 
left the British Missionary nothing to do, but, like 
Barnabas, to go and see the grace of God, and be 
glad. On comparing the Missionary contributions and 
activity of the churches at present—small as they still 
are—with the apathy of the past, and remembering the 
grandeur of the results to which they tend, how many 
a Christian has been led to say with the mingled abase¬ 
ment and gratitude of David, u Who am I, and what 
is my people, that we should be able to offer so will¬ 
ingly after this sort ... to build thee a house for thine 
holy name ?” What deep humiliation has been felt 
by thousands—and never perhaps was more deeply felt 
than at this moment—at the fact that the heathen 
world is crying to us for spiritual help and perishing 
in its cries ; that God is saying to us by his word and 
providence, u Hasten to their relief with the Gospel,” 
and yet that we should be so deplorably unprepared 
to obey. What grateful admiration, that God should 
have afforded us so many distinguished proofs that he 
is still in the midst of us ; and what earnest entreaties 
that he would arouse the entire Church to a sense of 
its new and vast obligations, and would graciously pour 
out upon us his Spirit from on high. The direct ten¬ 
dency of all our Missionary operations hitherto, is to 
bring the Church on its knees before God in unfeigned 
gratitude for the past, and entire dependence for the 
future ; prepared to inscribe on the sublime result of 
the whole, u to the praise of the glory of his grace.” 

From this review of the spiritual benefits of Christian 
Missions on the churches at home, we repeat the 
question with which the section commenced, in the 
full expectation that it admits but of one reply—Had 
the same amount of effort which the Missionary object 
has received been devoted to the diffusion of piety at 
home, is there any reason to conclude that our country 
would have reaped greater advantage than it is now 
enjoying from the reflex influence of that object ? Is 



264 


REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS 


it likely that more would have been done to impress 
a deep, salutary, and general conviction of the infinite 
importance of the Gospel; more to call forth the 
resources and multiply the agencies of Christian use¬ 
fulness ; more to counteract the worldliness of the 
Church, and to give enlargement and elevation to its 
views and affections ; more to illustrate the excellence, 
and to raise the standard, of Christian charity ; more 
to silence the irreligious objector, to engage the inter¬ 
cessions of the faithful in the behalf of the world, to 
fill us with devout dependence and holy anticipation 
for the future, and to prepare the Church to arise and 
shine as the light of the world, and to prove, through 
God, a universal blessing ? So far from this, we venture 
to affirm that not only would less have been done in 
all these respects, but that, humanly speaking, had 
it not been for the influence of the Missionary cause, 
many a society now in active operation expressly for 
home, would never have come into existence; many 
a heart which now beats high with a hallowed patriot¬ 
ism, would have been cold to the claims of home; 
and many a Christian Church, now known as the centre 
of a large circumference of local benevolence, would 
have been comparatively living to itself. And, indeed, 
what is all this but saying, in effect, that the history 
of Christian Missions will eventually be found to 
furnish a grand illustration of that sublime principle 
of a kingdom founded in love, that “it is more blessed 
to give than to receive.” 


CHAPTER IV. 


ARGUMENT DERIVED FROM THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 
FOR THE INCREASED ACTIVITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

m 

If the Christian Church is expressly designed to embody 
and diffuse the influence of the Cross, and if its full 
efficiency for this end, depends, under God, on the 
entireness of its consecration to this office, we may 
expect to find that every page of its history illustrates 
and corroborates the fact. Such is the remark with 
which we open this Second Part. But as the nature 
and limits of our subject forbade us to open the volume 
of ecclesiastical history, we contented ourselves with 
remarking generally, that the period of the first and 
greatest activity of the Church was the season of its 
greatest prosperity; that the subsequent decline of its 
devotedness was the decline of its prosperity; and that 
as every departure of the Church from its Missionary 
design has been invariably avenged, so every return to 
that character may be expected to be divinely acknow¬ 
ledged and blessed. Such a return, in part, we professed 
to recognise in the operations and aims of our Protestant 
Missions. And the subsequent chapters have been in¬ 
tended to enable us to show, that, as far as their history 
is concerned, it may be made most clearly and impres¬ 
sively evident that every step in return to the aggres¬ 
sive design of the Christian Church is a proportionate 
return to its first prosperity. It remains, therefore, that 
we make such use of those chapters as shall tend to 

23 


266 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


render this fact apparent; thus connecting them with 
the former Part, and strengthening the whole by enforc¬ 
ing the additional motive supplied to entire Christian 
consecration. 

I. Now this may be done by showing, first, that our 
Missionary success has been fully proportioned to our 
efforts. Perhaps the only persons disposed to question 
this proportion of success will be found among those 
who would have been the last to commence those efforts. 
For it is characteristic of a certain class, that though 
they would never have originated an enterprise, they are 
among the earliest, and the loudest in their complaints if 
it is not speedily crowned with complete success. No 
sooner do they awake from the slumber of doing nothing, 
than they seem to expect that every thing will rush to 
their aid, and are mortified at finding that they are 
doomed, like all their predecessors, to work by means, 
and not by charms. But we would ask such persons, 
What is the standard by which, in the present instance, 
they regulate their expectations of success ? Is it by the 
rapidity with which the Gospel was diffused in apostolic 
times ? But surely they do not expect this, indepen¬ 
dently of the zeal, self-denial, and earnest supplications 
which distinguished those times. Or would they say 
that the proportion of success now, is much less, as com¬ 
pared with the means employed, than it was at that 
time, even allowing for the present diminution of zeal ? 
But how is the rate of this diminution to be ascer¬ 
tained ? and yet, until it is, an essential element of the 
question remains undetermined. The truth is, that 
although the Church of late has begun to exhibit a spirit 
of Missionary activity—of zeal it knows comparatively 
little. We might ask the persons supposed, for instance, 
How many years, or rather how many hours, have you 
given to this object of your professed solicitude ? To 
how many seasons of wrestling in prayer with God ; and 
to how many acts of practical self-denial ; and to how 
many efforts to enkindle the zeal of others, has it led ? 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


267 


Do you not think that it will be high time for you to 
complain of slender success, when you can return a less 
self-condemnatory answer to inquiries such as these ? 

Or, would they regulate their expectations of success 
abroad, by the standard of home ? But we have shown 
in a preceding chapter that much of our domestic pros¬ 
perity itself is ascribable, under God, to the reflex 
influence of our evangelical operations abroad. Inde¬ 
pendently of this, however, could we only bring together 
the happy results of those operations from the various 
parts of the wide field over which they are scattered, and 
place them beside the fruits which religion has reaped 
within the same period at home—making, of course, the 
necessary allowance for the vast disproportion of means 
—we should see that, if these fruits at home call for 
ordinary thankfulness, the results abroad demand the 
loftiest ascriptions of praise. 

Are we asked, then, to sum up the benefits resulting 
from Christian Missions ? Enumerate them we can, 
and have ; but estimate their value we cannot. We 
have no standard by which to rate the worth of even their 
temporal, much less of their spiritual advantages. We 
can refer the inquirer to the temporal good they confer 
on the land which sends them forth ; and if he be a 
patriot, he will rejoice to hear of it. But unless he can 
furnish us with an instrument for determining the value 
of literature and science ; of correct and enlarged views 
of the actual condition of man; of our own national 
character; of human life ; of commerce; and of safety 
and supplies for our shipping; we must leave the precise 
worth of that good to his own imagination ; for in all 
these respects have they been eminently useful. Does 
he ask for vouchers ? Let him consult the records of 
learned societies ; the voluntary testimony of disinter¬ 
ested travellers; the “Evidence on the Aborigines;” 
the incidental as well as direct testimony in official 
reports and Government returns, to all of which we have 
distinctly referred. Let him ask the crew just liberated 
from cannibal hands, at what price they rate the value 


268 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


of the Missionary influence which has saved them—and 
let him ascertain how many crews would by this time 
have been sacrificed but for that influence; or what 
would have been the amount of the waste of European 
life before commerce could have obtained even a footing 
in those barbarous regions where, owing to that same 
influence, it now finds a welcome and a home ? Let 
him do this, and we will leave him to his own conclu¬ 
sions respecting its value. 

Is he a philanthropist? We can take him into the 
distant Missionary field, and point him to happy homes 
and peaceful villages rising amidst wastes where lately 
man roamed restless and ferocious as the beasts with 
which he contested for supremacy; to multitudes, now 
diligently busied in the arts of civilized life, whose 
hands were but yesterday red with the blood of their 
fellows ; to thousands of children and adults, trooping 
to their respective schools, where a short time ago, all 
the visible signs of a language were utterly unknown; to 
organized societies and the ascendency of law, where, 
but recently, to be lawless was reckoned essential to 
enjoyment, and to kill at pleasure the highest preroga¬ 
tive ;—to sober, honest, highly moralized countries 
where, lately, rage and intemperance revelled at will; 
to tribes which till lately never met but for mutual 
destruction, but whose intercourse now consists entirely 
in the reciprocation of benefits, and tokens of love ; to 
the animalized savage, acting the man ; to the debased 
slave, now walking at large as an heir of freedom; to 
degraded woman, raised from the dust and restored to 
be the partner of man ; to hundreds of thousands rescued 
from the curse of the darkest idolatry, and brought into 
the light of truth, and surrounded with the means of 
social improvement and unending happiness. But this 
is not enough. Having surveyed the happy change, let 
him place in strong imaginary contrast with it u r hat 
would probably have been at this moment the actual 
state of all those human beings had it not been for ' 
Missionary intervention. Let him imagine how many 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


269 


of those women and slaves would have pined and 
perished under brutal oppression ; how certainly those 
implements of peace would all have been in request as 
weapons of murder and war; how many of those child¬ 
ren would have been immolated ; how many of those 
islands would have been depopulated, and of those 
tribes exterminated; and then, in what way the 
wretched survivors would most likely have been now em¬ 
ployed. Let him then say, if he can, what is the value 
of the change which has been produced ; of the know¬ 
ledge by which all that ignorance which w T as in actual 
possession has been displaced ; of the morality and free¬ 
dom by which all that vice, bondage, and idolatry have 
been swept away ; of the humanity by which that effu¬ 
sion of human blood has been prevented, and all those 
lives been saved ; and of those moral principles, and 
social habits, by which all that has yet taken place 
will only be employed as means of improvement for all 
the future. Let him do this, and we will tell him the 
worth of the missionary enterprise to the cause of 
philanthropy. 

Or, is he who urges the inquiry a Christian ? To you, 
we might reply, to you we can speak of spiritual results. 
Not that you value the temporal benefits less than the 
patriot or the philanthropist, for you are both ; but that 
you value the spiritual blessings more. Tell us, if you 
can, how all the property by which the Missionary 
object has been sustained, would have been employed ; 
how all the time would have been spent which has been 
occupied in collecting, pleading, and labouring for the 
object, or in reading and hearing of it ; and what would 
have been the character of all the myriads of thoughts 
and feelings which would, during that time, have left 
their eternal signature on the mind, had that object 
never existed to engage and engross it; for, in order to 
compute its value, it is necessary to know the evil which 
it has been the means of preventing, as well as the posi¬ 
tive good which it has been instrumental in producing. 
Tell us, if you can, the value of that knowledge which 

23* 


270 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN HUSSIONS 


maketh wise Onto salvation ; of that love which passeth 
knowledge; and of that peace which passeth all under¬ 
standing—and we will tell you the worth of Missionary 
instrumentality, for it has been the means of imparting 
all these to thousands. Tell us, in answer to the ques¬ 
tion of our common Lord, u What shall it profit a man 
if he gain the whole world, and yet lose his own soul ?” 
—and from the amount of that fearful loss we will com¬ 
pute the gain of Missionary instrumentality, for it has 
been the means of saving the souls of thousands. Tell 
us, or ask the redeemed in glory to tell, by what line we 
can sound the depths of that pit from which they have 
escaped,—by what scale w ? e can take the height of the 
bliss to which they have attained,—or where are the 
balances in which we can lay an eternal weight of glory, 
and we will tell you the value of Missionary labour ; for it 
has instrumentally saved thousands from hell, and pre¬ 
pared them for heaven. Think of the state in which 
the Christian Missionary found u the nations of them 
that are saved;”—of that horrid system composed of lies, 
and crimes, and curses, and woes, which he found in 
tyrannical possession ; of the dreadful aspect with which 
it confronted heaven; of its mad devotedness to the 
spirit and purposes of hell. But now, see, the whole 
has vanished. The first house they build, is the house 
of God. Almost their only book, is the Bible. Among 
their days, they now number and keep holy the Chris¬ 
tian Sabbath. And almost the only form of society they 
know is that of the Christian Church. u Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men,” and he graciously dwells 
among them. If you could not have looked down, with 
Balaam, upon the vast encampments of Israel on the 
plains of Moab, without emotions of delight ; if you 
could not have witnessed the scenes of Pentecost, or 
have “ seen the grace of God at Antioch,” without being 
u glad how can you adequately express your gratitude 
and joy at beholding these fruits of Christian Missions ? 
If you are truly conscious of Christian compassion ; 
think of all the bodily sufferings, the moral evils, the 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


271 


mental anguish, which they have been the means of 
preventing or removing ; of the hope, and peace, and 
joy, they have imparted on earth ; of that u wrath to 
come ” from which they have instrumentally snatched 
immortal souls ; and of that “joy of your Lord,” to 
which they have introduced them ; and you will fall 
down afresh and bless God for the honour which he has 
put on the Missionary enterprise. If you are sincerely 
“ jealous for the Lord of hosts,” think of all the instances 
in which they have been the means of converting idol 
temples into places of Christian worship ; of disparag¬ 
ing idolatry in the very spot where for ages it had 
reigned; and of calling the idolater himself to join in 
the worship of the only living and true God. And 
think what honour has, in every such instance, been put 
on the love of the Father, on the mediation of Christ, 
and on the agency of the Holy Spirit ; with what infi¬ 
nite complacency they have contemplated the glorious 
change ; and what strains of seraphic joy it has called 
forth among the angels of God ; and you will gratefully 
acknowledge, with a depth of conviction which perhaps 
you never felt before, that our Missionary success has 
immeasurably exceeded the proportion of our efforts. 

Yes, exceeded ! for think, how recently those efforts 
were commenced. The generation that began them has 
not yet entirely passed away. How much of the short 
time which has since elapsed has been necessarily con¬ 
sumed in preparatory work ; in learning the languages 
of the people visited; translating the Scriptures into 
those languages ; preparing elementary books ; instruct¬ 
ing the natives to read ; in erecting the requisite machi¬ 
nery, and bringing it into working order. How many 
alterations and improvements have been suggested ; and 
how much we had to learn as to the best method of 
conducting Missionary labours. And how small a pro¬ 
portion of the Church even yet is zealously engaged in 
promoting them. Many of these disheartening considera¬ 
tions were graciously allowed to remain hidden from the 
eyes of those who originated the Missionary enterprise. 


272 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


But could we ask the most sanguine among them, 
whether, notwithstanding, the event had equalled their 
first expectations of success ; and could we show them 
at the same time all the salutary influence which that 
enterprise has reflected on the cause of religion at home, 
we should hear from them all a repetition of the grateful 
language, so often on their lips, “What hath God wrought! 
He hath done exceeding abundantly above all we asked 
or thought !” 

Nor have our Missionary successes exceeded our 
expectations in a single respect only. They have been 
the means of accomplishing good of a kind which we 
did not contemplate. Who thought, for instance, of 
their benefiting the slave in any but a religious respect ? 
And had any one been heard to pray that they might 
lead to his emancipation, he would certainly have been 
silenced for his indiscretion or his presumption. So 
remote was such an issue from our views, that for years 
our Missionaries rather concealed the miseries of the 
slave, lest, by displeasing the planter, they should be 
denied access to the objects of their solicitude. And 
yet to Missionary influence, under God, the abolition of 
slavery is unquestionably to be ascribed. 

Nor has the sphere of this influence less exceeded our 
expectations than the kind of good which it has effected. 
We thought only of sending the Gospel to heathen 
lands; but oar own country , as we have seen, has been 
a gainer by the enterprise, of the richest blessings. 

And as in the sphere, so in the time when this reflex 
influence began to operate. While we were calculating 
on the good to result to others in a coming period, we 
found ourselves in actual possession. In merely design¬ 
ing to bless, we ourselves were blessed. The benefit 
flowing from Christian Missions dates, not from the 
first year of their existence, nor from their first hour, 
but from their earliest moment. From that auspicious 
moment to the present, they have been discharging on 
the Churches, generally, showers of the richest influence. 
And have they been the means of doing so much good ? 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


273 


Why did we not begin them sooner ? and why are we 
not now prosecuting them with greater zeal ? 

II. We may expect to find also that advantages 
have flowed from our returning activity which nothing 
else could have conferred. And the reason of this is 
sufficiently obvious;—the planet js now moving in its 
appointed orbit ; the Church is advancing in a line with 
the purposes of Omnipotence, and in harmony with 
its own principles. If, before, it had been hampered 
with forms, customs, and corruptions, at every effort 
which it now makes to move, some portion of these old 
incrustations of evil fall off; a desire to advance aright, 
sends it to consult the Word of God; a concern to 
retrieve its past indolence, fills it with a zeal that calls 
on “all men everywhere to repent;” the conversions 
which ensue, furnish it with a means of enlarging its 
sphere of activity. The existence of all this both proves 
the presence of the Divine Spirit in the midst of it, and 
leads it to earnest cries for still larger effusions of his 
influence ; and thus, by action and reaction, an increase 
of its prosperity leads to importunate prayer for larger 
impartations of the Spirit, and larger impartations of 
the Spirit necessarily produce an increase of Divine 
prosperity. 

Let us look at the Christians and Christian denomi¬ 
nations of Britain at present; and say, what but their 
activity for God, and the salutary effects of that activity 
on themselves, constitute the sign and means of their 
visible prosperity ? Take away this, and what single 
feature would remain on which the spiritual eye could 
rest with pleasure ? Their orthodoxy ? That would 
be their condemnation ; for, if their creed be scrip¬ 
tural, activity and zeal for God are necessary, if only 
to make them consistent with themselves. The num¬ 
bers they include ? The world outnumbers them; and 
it is only by their aggressive activity, blessed by God, 
that they can hope to keep their disproportion from 
increasing. Their liberality ? Apart from this Chris- 


274 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


tian activity, where would be the calls on that liber¬ 
ality ? It is this which brings it into exercise, and 
by exercise augments it. Their union with each other ? 
This activity for enlarging the kingdom of Christ is 
almost the only bond which, at present, does unite 
them; take away this, and nearly the last ligament 
of their visible union would be snapped. Their spirit 
of prayer ? That has been called into exercise almost 
entirely by means of their Christian activity ; for, 
feeling the utter insufficiency of their own endeavours, 
they have earnestly entreated God to make bare his 
arm in their behalf. 

From our returning activity, then, in the cause oi 
human salvation, advantages have resulted which no¬ 
thing else could have conferred. Amidst scenes of po¬ 
litical strife, it has brought to us visions of a kingdom 
which is not of this world. Amidst scenes of eccle¬ 
siastical discord, it has provided one standard around 
which all can rally against the common foe. Amidst 
the icy selfishness of the world around, it has called 
forth w 7 arm streams of Christian liberality. It has 
given employment to energies which would otherwise 
have been wasted in the arena of angry controversy. 
It has been the means of originating various institu¬ 
tions, which are destined to hasten the great consum¬ 
mation ; and of calling into existence specimens of 
Christian excellence and heroism, of which the world 
is not worthy. To the visible Church it has given a 
heart, stirred its deepest sympathies for the world, 
brought considerable accessions to its numbers, im¬ 
parted additional interest to its services, enlivened its 
piety, enlarged its views, and brightened its visions 
of the reign of Christ. It has been the means of dis¬ 
arming infidelity of some of its most specious ob¬ 
jections, illustrated afresh the divinity of the Gospel, 
increased the confidence of Christians in its ultimate 
triumphs, and furnished them with some of the most 
remarkable occasions for ascribing glory to God. Many 
of them it has filled with a sense of self-dissatisfaction* 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


275 


of utter dependence on God, of aching want and 
craving desire for something more and something better 
for the Church than it yet possesses ; so that their 
loudest prayers are prayers for the promised outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit. From all of which we infer, that 
a full return in faith and prayer to the aggressive design 
of the Christian Church, would be a full return to its 
original prosperity. 

III. But this is further apparent, and the whole of 
this second Part connects itself with the former by the 
important fact that the history which it details of the 
Missionary enterprise, remarkably illustrates every par¬ 
ticular there advanced on the theory of Christian 
influence. This, indeed, might have been expected ; 
for it is only saying that the same principles when put 
into operation under the same circumstances, produce 
the same effects. Accordingly, the records of modern 
Missions might easily be made to furnish the most 
striking comment on the u Acts of the Apostles,” and 
to illustrate every principle of the Missionary constitu¬ 
tion of the Church. 

How strikingly do they exemplify at once the at¬ 
tractive and the expansive power of the Cross of 
Christ ! Here is a humble individual, a Carey or a 
Mills, a Hall or an Egede, meditating in solitude an 
attempt to convert the heathen. Never surely was* 
project more remote from the sphere of worldly calcu¬ 
lation. It is almost beyond the range even of ordinary 
Christian sympathy. What is to account for it ? Has 
some personal command, or supernatural visitation, 
called him by name to undertake the work ? No, the 
love of Christ alone constrains him ; and the known 
requirements of Christianity are his authority. The 
ignorant may pity him as foolish, the irreligious may 
pronounce him mad, and even his professed fellow 
Christians may deem him rash and zealous overmuch. 
But he is simply “thus judging,” that if the world 
is perishing, and if Christ died for its redemption, he, 


276 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


knowing the fact, is bound to proclaim it. He “ cannot 
but speak the things which he has seen and heard.” 

Months, perhaps years, elapse, but still the fire of 
bis purpose burns on with unabated strength. Re¬ 
flection and prayer only increase its ardour : at length, 
he finds with untold delight that, like the caloric dif¬ 
fused through physical substances, the principle of 
benevolence lying dormant in the heart of some with 
whom he holds communion, is beginning to disengage 
by collision, and to ignite into a flame of sympathetic 
Christian zeal. They join him in prayer, aid his 
resources, and urge him to depart “far hence among the 
Gentiles.” 

If we follow him, after a while, to the scene of his 
Missionary labours, what is the spectacle we behold ? 
To an uninstructed observer w r e might say, See you 
those savages sitting, mourning, and melting around 
him ? he is telling them the tale of the Cross. Do 
you remark how the stolid countenances of others are 
awakening into intelligence, and their very attitudes 
indicating an anxiety to understand ? “ Jesus Christ 

has been evidently set forth crucified among them.” Do 
you^observe how others are busily occupied in building 
around ?—Blessed Saviour, thou hast triumphed ; thou 
art drawing all men unto thee!—for, in effect, they 
are building around the Cross ! Abandoning their idols 
and their wandering habits, they have found the true 
centre of attraction, and rejoice to be near it. u It 
was when I discoursed to the multitude,” says Brainerd, 
“on that sacred passage, ‘yet it pleased the Lord to 
bruise him,’ that the word was attended with a resistless 
power; many hundreds in that great assembly, con¬ 
sisting of three or four thousand, were much affected, 
so that there was a very great mourning like to the 
mourning of Hadadrimmon.” “How was that?” said 
the affected Kaiarnac, when, after the “ rationalizing 
process” had long been tried on the Greenlanders in . 
vain, the history ol our Lord’s sufferings was at length 
read to them—“ How was that ? tell me that once 
more, for I would fain be saved too.” 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


277 


But if the Gospel of Christ possesses this power of 
subduing the heart to its own expansive purposes, ice 
may expect to see even the converted savage attempting 
the conversion of those around him. Nor do we expect 
this in vain. Kairnac himself is an illustration in 
point. “His family, consisting of nine persons, were 
the first that were brought under conviction by his 
words and conduct; and before the month was over, 
three large families of natives came, with all their 
effects, and pitched their tents beside the dwellings of 
the Moravians.”* Thus the Gospel extends its influence 
from the individual to the family, and from the family 
to the neighbourhood. 

“ The natives,” writes a Missionary in New Zealand, 
tc are beginning to itinerate among their countrymen 
to preach the Gospel. Surely good times are near 
at hand for this country. The desire which some of 
the young men manifest for the salvation of the souls 
of their countrymen evidently points out the nature 
of the religion which they profess.”! 1° one station 
we behold a vast assembly of native converts addressed 
by Christian chiefs and others, and urged by compassion 
for “ lost souls,” and by gratitude for their own sal¬ 
vation, to embark in a Missionary enterprise among 
the idolaters beyond. In another we hear a venerable 
chief lamenting in the midst of his people that he 
is not young enough to go on such an errand of mercy ; 
and praying that the churches of the ^station might 
be honoured to “ supply brethren to bear the Gospel 
to more populous lands.” Elsewhere, we hear the 
chief of one island, who has sailed far to address the 
chiefs of another, exclaiming at the close of his earnest 
appeal, “ Grasp with a firm hold the word of Jehovah ; 
for this alone can make you a peaceable and happy 
people. I should have died a savage, had it not been 
for the Gospel.” And there, another under similar 

* Carne, vol. i. p. 237. 

f Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 121,122. 

24 


278 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


circumstances, exclaiming, as he steps forward, and 
seizes the heathen chief by the hand, u Rise, brother, 
tear off the garb of Satan, and become a man of God.’ 7 

The inhabitants of eight islands, says one of the 
witnesses in the u Evidence on the Aborigines, 77 were 
entirely converted to Christianity by the agency of 

native Missionaries. We have about sixty or 

seventy, and that number is increasing ; because , 
wherever the Gospel is attended with beneficial effects, 
a new agency is created there for its still further 

propagation . The original station was only one 

island, that of Tahiti ; and the knowledge of Chris¬ 
tianity was conveyed to the islands where the American 
Missionaries are, and to the Friendly Islands, by native 
agency. We have forty or fifty islands under in¬ 
struction at the present time by native agency. 

What a strong scriptural illustration of the expansive 
power of the Gospel is here ! u The Spirit and the 
bride say, Come. 77 Every church regards itself as a 
Missionary Society. Some of their first property was 
sent home to aid the cause of Missions. Their best 
men are called forth and devoted to the Missionary 
office. With a simplicity and singleness of purpose 
worthy of apostolic times, they go forth, often at the 
imminent hazard of their lives, to proclaim salvation 
to remoter islands. And wherever they have proceeded 
hitherto, unexampled success has attended their labours, 
u the Lord working with them. 77 And thus the distant 
field of Missionary labour presents at this moment 
the noble spectacle of a vast sphere in Christian ac¬ 
tivity, not for itself merely, but for an ever-enlarging 
circumference beyond. 

IV. Now what a powerful motive should all this 
supply to the increase of our Missionary zeal. If every 
event of Providence has a voice and a lesson, the only 
interpretation we can give to the language uttered by 
our Missionary success, is that of one unbroken call 
to greater diligence. After making the preceding 
circuit of the Missionary field, and taking a survey 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY. 


279 


of the results of our past attempts, can we return 
into the presence of the Lord of the harvest without 
feeling how justly he might say to us, as he did to 
his disciples at the close of their first intineracy, 
“ Lacked ye anything?” and how confidently he might 
await the same reply, “Nothing, Lord.” You were 
ignorant, he might continue to say, and one of the 
direct tendencies of my dispensations towards you 
has been to instruct you in the heavenly art of doing 
good. You were fearful and unbelieving; and I re¬ 
buked your doubts, not in judgment, but by affording 
you unexpected disclosures of my resources and my 
grace. You had enemies; many of them exist no 
longer : others I have changed into friends; and of 
those that remain I have taught you to believe that 
“their end draweth nigh.” From many a scene of 
apparently fruitless labour you were inclined to with¬ 
draw dejected; but I gave you grace to persevere, 
and heaven heard the result in your grateful shouts 
of rejoicing triumph. 

Where have you laboured in vain ? Your own 
recorded testimony is, that “success, to a certain ex¬ 
tent, has invariably attended your Missionary exertions 
among the heathen.”* Name an instance, if you can, 
in which an attempt to introduce the Gospel among 
a barbarous people, and perseverance in the use of 
suitable means, have not been attended with a measure 
of success. Even where that success has been appa¬ 
rently delayed, was it not as much, if not more, 
eventually, than as if it had been early and gradually 
sent ? Has not the scene of your greatest dejection 
repeatedly proved the occasion of your greatest triumph ? 
And as to the tendency of your Missionary activity 
to benefit yourselves, say by what other process you 
can suppose your advantage would have been greater ? 
By what other means could you have equally learned 
the secret of mutual Christian influence; of the stimu- 


* Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 132. 


280 


THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


lating effect of individual devotedness upon a church, 
and of one church upon another, and ol one denomi¬ 
nation upon every other part of the Christian com¬ 
munity ; the great fact that for a single Christian 
to move in my service is sure eventually to move the 
entire Church, and to hasten the conversion of the 
world ? Or by what other means could I have equally 
illustrated the fact that my Church is constituted 
expressly for this end, and that its welfare depends 
on its becoming the channel of my Spirit to the world, 
and of thus answering the great relative object of 
its existence ? 

But if so many ends have been answered, and so 
much good has been accomplished by the comparatively 
slender amount of instrumentality which you have 
already put into motion, what might you not have 
been the means of effecting, had your activity but 
equalled your resources ? For though my sovereignty 
is at liberty to act as independently as I please, both 
of your instrumentality, and of my own promises, 
in exceeding your just expectations; and though, in 
this sense, I will still be u found of them that sought 
me not,” yet as you have never asked but I have 
answered, never laboured but I have blessed, think 
how many a region still sitting in darkness might have 
been added to those which you have been the means 
of bringing into marvellous light! 

And now, when will you be satisfied with success ? 
You say that you are grateful for the past, but re¬ 
member that whatever you may profess, the amount 
of your present activity describes the exact degree 
of your gratitude. You profess to recognize a con¬ 
nexion and a proportion between the measure of your 
instrumentality and your success ; are you then already 
satisfied with the good effected, that you do not increase 
you Christian activity ? This you profess to be quite 
impossible : nothing, you avow, can ever arrest your 
activity, or satisfy your desires, till my Gospel has 
leavened the heart of humanity, and its laws have 


AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED AC TIYITY. 


281 


become interwoven with every human government; till 
wars have ceased to the ends of the earth ; a sorrowing 
world has dried up its tears ; till the reign of sin 
be ended, and one universal transporting song ascend 
from every land in honour of Him by whom the victory 
is achieved. Why then do you not aim at greater 
proportion between the splendour of your expectations 
and the measure of your endeavours ? I am not 
exhausted with imparting; are you weary with re¬ 
ceiving ? As yet you have only received the first- 
fruits ; when will you be prepared for the harvest? 
I have only at present begun to bless; but u prove 
me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will 
not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you 
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to re¬ 
ceive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your 
sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground ; 
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in 
the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall 
call you blessed ; for ye shall be a delightsome land, 
saith the Lord of hosts.” 


24* 


/ 





PART III. 


ENCOURAGEMENTS OF CHRISTIANS TO PROSECUTE 
THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


As far as human agency is concerned in the eventual 
triumph of the Gospel, he who despairs of that tri¬ 
umph, is doing all he can to prevent it ; and he who 
confidently and consistently expects it, is materially 
contributing to promote it. While it is admitted 
therefore as an axiom in Christian morals, that encou¬ 
ragements to duty do not form the ground of our 
obedience, yet when such encouragements are gra¬ 
ciously afforded, not to regard them would be sullen 
ingratitude against God, and not to feel them is to 
remain insensible to some of the most cheering and 
powerful inducements to increased activity. Encou¬ 
ragements to Missionary labour, and to anticipate the 
final success of that labour, lie around us on every side. 
In collecting and presenting some of the more obvious 
among them to Christian attention, it may ’contribute to 
clearness, and sufficiently answer our present object, 
if we consider them in succession, as historical, po¬ 
litical, moral, ecclesiastical, and evangelical; after 
which we shall mark their relation to the preceding parts, 
and their practical application. 



284 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


SECTION I. 

ENCOURAGEMENT FROM HISTORY. 

The first encouragement to Missionary labour to which 
we invite attention, is that which is derivable from 
the history of the propagation of Christianity. In 
attempting the diffusion of the Gospel we are not 
engaged in a novel experiment; nor is the Gospel 
itself a system of truth hitherto untried. It has a 
long and an eventful history. In order to estimate 
its prospects for the future, then, let us question that 
history concerning the past; for if it shall appear that 
Christianity, regarded merely as one form of religion 
among many, has vanquished every foe which it has 
encountered, passed through every ordeal to which it 
is ever likely to be subjected, and is still vigorous and 
aggressive, even the sceptic must admit that, whether 
its success be' owing to supernatural aid, to intrinsic 
excellence, or to both, its friends have strong encour¬ 
agement to hope for its continued progress. 

Now the first question naturally arising in the mind 
of an inquirer on this subject would be—has the re¬ 
ligion of the Bible triumphed already ? Open the 
first pages of its history, we reply, and you will find 
that its early history is a history of its triumphs. It 
matters not whether that history be written by an 
Origen or a Pliny, an Eusebius or a Tacitus, a Ter- 
tullian or a Gibbon—friends and foes alike bear tes¬ 
timony to the fact that during its early ages the Gospel 
not merely maintained its ground, but extended its 
conquests on every hand with a rapidity and a vigour 
which left numbers of its enemies no alternative but 
to ascribe it to the finger of God. c Perhaps, however, 
the advent of Christianity took place at a time when 
the prevailing systems of religion were of a kind less 
hostile to innovation than those which exist at present ; 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


285 


or perhaps, the character of the Gospel had a tendency 
to coalesce with them, and accept of their support. 5 So 
far from this the Gospel was utterly unlike every system 
which the mind of man had imagined ; nor would it 
accept the remotest alliance with any, but proclaimed 
a war of extermination against them all ; and yet it tri¬ 
umphed. It found every human heart a temple filled 
with the worship of some idol god, and the world a 
Pantheon, crowded with the long accumulated images 
and services of an ancient idolatry ; and yet it triumphed. 
Never, perhaps, had the prevailing systems presented 
a more threatening front to the pretensions of any 
new and rival religion than at that period ; this the 
ages of persecution which followed sufficiently testified : 
but not only did the Gospel denounce them , it went 
even deeper, and proclaimed eternal war against the 
very propensities and principles of human nature which 
had given them birth ; and yet it triumphed. c But 
the Gospel may have owed its early successes to an 
instrumentality of a kind so efficient as it may never 
possess again. 5 As far as that agency was miraculous, 
it was doubtless demonstrative of the truth of the 
Gospel ; but the means employed for its diffusion were 
simply c£ the foolishness of preaching. 55 No purple 
clothed it, no orators pleaded its cause, no secret bribes 
procured it access to the ear of the great, no army 
hewed for it a path ; and yet it triumphed. The 
apparent impotence and meanness of its agents form¬ 
ed one of the great objections of the day against the 
divinity of its origin, and the possibility of its success ; 
and yet it triumphed. And one of the reasons why 
such an instrumentality was employed doubtless was, 
that the Church might never, on this ground, have cause 
to despond ; that it might feel that as long as it can 
furnish but u twelve fishermen, 55 it possesses an in¬ 
strumentality equal, under God, to repeat the triumphs 
of its primitive days. 

£ But it may be that Christianity triumphed only in 
one direction, and vanquished only a single kind of 


286 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE. 


opposition.’ It evaded no difficulty, turned aside from 
no foe. It went in search of u Satan’s seat.” Not 
a people here and there merely, but many nations, and 
these in every stage of civilization, and exhibiting almost 
every variety of political and moral condition, aban¬ 
doned their idolatries, and embraced the Christian 
name. 

‘ But many a system which has prospered in its early 
days, and which has even gained energy by conflict, has 
no sooner been seated in the place of ease and power 
than it has fallen before the first vigorous assault which 
it was called to sustain. One would like to see there¬ 
fore whether or not Christendom could survive such 
an encounter.’ The irruption of the Gothic and 
Slavic nations into the Roman empire, furnished the 
means of the experiment ; and what was the effect ? 
The conversion of these northern barbarians had been 
before but imperfectly attempted, yet now when they 
came to vanquish the civilized world, the second in¬ 
crease of Christianity took place by their nominal adop¬ 
tion of the faith. And thus the very event which 
had threatened Christendom with irreparable ruin, 
proved the second era of its enlargement. 

1 In this instance, however, the encounter of Chris¬ 
tianity was only with barbarian force. What, if the 
antagonist had been armed with knowledge, with elastic 
mind, and intellectual might?’ The supposition has 
been realized ; realized under circumstances the most 
unfavorable for Christianity ; and yet it triumphed. 
At the time when ancient literature arose from the 
sleep of ages like a giant refreshed ; when the newly 
created press gave wings to thought; when philosophy 
rose like a sun on the old world, and science dis¬ 
covered a new world; and when mind in consequence 
received an impulse which threatened with extinction 
whatever was not true and good, Christianity was 
found overlaid and oppressed with centuries of cor¬ 
ruption. But with an energy of self-renovating power 
which could have only come from God, it arose with 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


287 


the occasion, and, so far from avoiding, actually called 
to its side, and employed in its service, all those ele¬ 
ments of greatness which had just come into existence. 
Ancient literature held its rekindled torch to the 
translation of the Bible; the press propagated it in 
all directions : an inductive philosophy has ever since 
been illustrating its truths, and augmenting its evidence ; 
and from parts of that new world which Christianity 
was the first to colonize, it is now meditating the con¬ 
version of mankind. 

c Still the test might have been more severe. Chris¬ 
tianity might have remained unreformed, or the slum¬ 
ber of security might have come over it after the 
Reformation, while its enemies were secretly forging 
their weapons, and gradually preparing for its sudden 
destruction ; what would have been the issue of such 
an onset ? ’ The question is answered; the onset was 
made, and yet the cause of the Gospel triumphed. 
The Neological Pantheism of Spinoza ; the Casuistic 
Doubts of Bayle; the Phenomenonism of Hume ; 
Kant and Transcendental Scepticism ; the Ridicule of 
Voltaire; the Sentimental Deism of Rousseau; the 
Historical Infidelity of Gibbon ; all the agents and 
hosts of evil fell on the cause of Truth in quick suc¬ 
cession, and in the hour of its faintness, and felt secure 
of its utter extinction. Political convulsions too, at 
the same time, seemed to conspire and make way for 
the most fearful changes. The revolutionized aspect 
of the social system at this moment, testifies to 
the violence of that moral deluge by which mountains, 
were brought down, and valleys raised, and the 
organic structure of Christendom changed. Yet not 
only did Christianity survive the conflict; the hour 
of its crisis was the season of its greatest triumph. 
While maintaining its ground with apparent difficulty 
at home, it was actually acquiring new territories 
abroad. At the moment when its enemies supposed 
that its doom was sealed, it was seen as a mighty angel 
flying through the midst of heaven, and preaching the 


288 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


everlasting Gospel to all nations. The day of its 
fiercest trial, is the day from which it dates its modern 
Missionary enterprise. 

Now are we not encouraged from this review of the 
past to augur hopefully of the future ? Shall not the 
weapon which has never failed be regarded by us 
with greater confidence than one which has never been 
tried ? Is it too much to expect that the Gospel 
which has triumphed so long and so gloriously will 
continue to triumph still ? We pass to the field of 
Missionary effort over the wrecks of former systems of 
idolatry, and through scenes of early Gospel triumph, 
and shall w T e not feel the inspiration of the scene ? 
Where now is Diana of the Ephesians ? Where now 
are Jupiter and the gods of Greece ? and where the 
whole Pantheon of Rome ? The first Christians testi¬ 
fied against them, and they vanished. Missionaries of 
Christ came to Britain ; and where now are Woden 
and all the Saxon gods ; Hessus, and all the [more 
ancient and sanguinary rites of the Druids ? The idols 
which we now assail in other lands have been long since 
routed, and the sword we wield routed them. The 
gods of India are the same, under different names, 
which Italy and Greece adored ; the sword of the Lord 
chased them irom the west, and shall it do less in the 
east ? remembering u the years of the right hand of the 
Most High,” let us “ thank God and take courage.” 


SECTION II. 

MISSIONARY ENCOURAGEMENT ARISING FROM THE POLITICAL ASPECT 

OF THE WORLD. 

A second ground of Missionary encouragement, and 
one deserving peculiar attention, may be denominated 
political, for it respects the external relations of Chris- 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


289 


tendom, and especially of reformed Christendom, to the 
rest of the world. If the social condition of states and 
their aspects towards each other, are to possess any 
weight in our estimate of the Missionary cause, we may 
venture to affirm, that it would be difficult to conceive 
of their occupying any position relative to that cause 
more encouraging than that which they now present. 

1. For first, all the rest of the globe appears to be 
placed, by Providence, at the disposal of Christendom. 
This will appear from a slight degree of attention to 
the following considerations.—That which classifies and 
distributes the population of the earth is, not geogra¬ 
phical lines, but religion. This is the centre around 
which humanity collects, and by which it is civilized and 
formed into masses ; and hence the savage tribes, having 
nothing deserving the name of religion, know nothing 
of civilization or of union among themselves. Now if 
we look down upon the human race from a point of 
view sufficiently high, we shall find them divisible into 
three great families—the Mahometan, the Brahminical, 
and the Christian, including the Jewish. Within the 
bosom of these families, there are numerous points of 
difference. The nations which compose them are in 
various stages of progress ; but still they are all mar¬ 
shalled and moving under one or other of these three 
banners.* 

The Mahometan division occupies South Western 
Asia, and the North and East of Africa. The Brah- 
minic section, the most populous of the three, possesses 
Eastern Asia, and the neighbouring islands on the east 
and south, including Japan, Chinese Tartary, China, 
and the Indies. The Christian portion comprehends 
Europe and America, penetrates Asia by the north and 

* For many of the facts stated in this part of the present section, 
the author is indebted to a sketch of the “ Present State of Human¬ 
ity j” by M. Jouffroy, Professor in the Faculty of Literature, Paris ; 
in which with much that is unsound in theory, there is blended 
much that is useful in information. 

25 


290 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


the south, Africa south of the tropics, and has colonies 
every where. 

The Moslem division embraces a population of about 
a hundred and twenty millions ; Brahminism, in its 
different sects, about four hundred millions ; and Chris¬ 
tendom about two hundred millions. The remainder 
of the human race, amounting to nearly a hundred 
millions, are savage. These are so scattered and sur¬ 
rounded, that, as a portion of humanity, they exert no 
influence on the three great divisions, but are probably 
destined to be assimilated and absorbed by them. 

The great powers, then, which divide the civilized 
world between them, are Mahometanism, Brahminism, 
and Christianity. Now of these, it is evident from 
facts that the Christian division is the only one which 
possesses an expansive power. 

Christianity alone entertains the idea of gaining 
savage tribes to civilization. Brahminism has few or 
no savages to civilize ; for while on one side its 
dominion extends to the Eastern borders of Asia, on 
the other it approaches Mahometanism and Chris¬ 
tianity, and consequently touches the other systems of 
civilization. Mahometanism also, on the East towards 
Asia, and on the North and West towards Europe, is 
arrested by Christian and Brahminic civilization. It 
comes in contact with savages only at the south towards 
the centre of Africa ; and these there is reason to con¬ 
clude that it entirely disregards. But while Mahom¬ 
etanism and Brahminism take no measures by which 
they may share in the mass of men who are yet to be 
civilized, if we turn our eyes to Christianity we per¬ 
ceive that, with the exception of the barbarians of 
Africa—and even these it is on the point of disputing 
with Mahometanism—it holds in its hand all the savages 
of the rest of the world. 

For, in the next place, Christendom is the only one 
of the three divisions which colonizes. Mahometanism, 
like Brahminism, keeps at home. The time when it 
subdued nations with the sword is past. While there 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


291 


is hardly an island of any considerable magnitude where 
one part or other of Christendom has not taken a station. 

It is the only one of the three divisions capable of 
increase from population. The countries possessed by 
the other two, have as many inhabitants already as 
comport with their respective systems of civilization. 
But this is so far from being the case with Christendom, 
that the population of modern Russia, for instance, 
doubles itself in about fifty years, and that of America in 
about half that period. It has before it, therefore, a vast 
prospect of increase, both at the expense of the savage 
portion of the human race, and by virtue of its own 
productive power—a prospect denied to the other tw 7 o. 

Christendom alone evinces a zeal for improvement. 
Among the Brahminic nations science is stationary ; by 
the Mahometan it is despised ; while among us it is 
honoured and cultivated, and is rapidly arming us with 
an ever-increasing power over them both. 

Besides which, it is the only power which advances 
at the expense of the others. Not only does its supe¬ 
riority secure it from the attacks of the other two, it 
places them both, in a sense, at our disposal. Accord¬ 
ingly, neither Brahminism nor Mahometanism pene¬ 
trates, or attempts to penetrate, into Christendom. 
They appear smitten wfith death. They make no con¬ 
quests even on each other, or among barbarians. They 
seem to exist merely because time is requisite for a dead 
system, as for a dead tree, to fall to pieces. Christen¬ 
dom, on the contrary, exhibits all the signs of a fresh 
and vigorous life. Every where it advances with ardour 
and deliberate purpose into the domains of Brahma 
and Mahomet; and almost the only resistance which it 
meets with is that of inertness and decay. Thus, while 
the aspect which the former two present is that of the 
Dead Sea, the latter, like the Jordan, is seen rushing 
into it, and we cannot forget that the promise is, “the 
xvaters shall be healed.” 

2. But if on taking a survey of the civilized world, 
we are struck with the fact that of the three systems into 


292 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 

which it is divided Christendom alone is aggressive, still 
more are we impressed at finding that, of all the nations 
of Christendom, those which are especially distinguished 
by Providence with political influence over the lands of 
Brahma and Mahomet are the reformed and antipapal 
powers. Italy with its enfeebling despotism, Spain 
with its internal factions and suicidal passions, and even 
France with its redundant peasantry, exhibit no symp¬ 
toms of diffusing themselves over the world. England, 
English America, and Russia, are the only countries 
now standing in an interesting relation to the future. 
The former two, may be regarded as one. Concerning 
its probable destiny, let us hear an opinion, which, 
considering the quarter whence it comes, is entitled to 
deep attention. It cannot be denied that u the British 
race,” says M. Tocqueviile,* u has acquired an amazing 
preponderance over all the other European races in the 
New World ; and that it is very superior to them in 
civilization, in industry, and in power. . . . The geogra¬ 
phical position of the British race in the New World is 
peculiarly favourable to its rapid increase. ... It has been 
calculated that the whites advance every year a mean 
distance of seventeen miles along the whole of this vast 
boundary [about fifteen hundred miles.] Obstacles, 
such as an unproductive district, a lake, or an Indian 
nation unexpectedly encountered, are sometimes met 
with. The advancing column then halts for a while; 
its two extremities fall back upon themselves; and, 
as soon as they are reunited, they proceed onwards. 
This gradual and continued progress of the European 
(British) race towards the rocky mountains, has the 
solemnity of a providential event; it is like a deluge 
of men rising unabatedly, and daily driven onwards by 
the hand of God. . . . Thus, in the midst of the uncertain 
future, one event at least is sure. At a period wffiich 
may be said to be near (for we are speaking of the life 
of a nation) the Anglo-Americans will alone cover the 


* Democracy in America. Paris and London , 1835. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


293 


immense space contained between the Polar regions 
and the Tropics, extending from the coast of the 
Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific ocean—equal to 
three quarters of Europe in extent; with a popula¬ 
tion of a hundred and fifty millions of men. . . . This is 
a fact new to the world, a fact fraught with such por¬ 
tentous consequences as to baffle the efforts even of 
the imagination.’ 5 

But it is not merely one quarter of the world of 
which the British race have taken possession. Southern 
Africa has received her language and her laws. In 
Australia—a new world larger than Europe, and com¬ 
paratively empty of men—colonization is spreading with 
a rapidity never before witnessed. And still about 
two hundred thousand emigrants annually leave the 
shores of Britain to take possession of the waste places 
of the earth, as if they were theirs by a Divine gift, or 
by the right of inheritance. 

Our empire and political influence in the East, too, 
are of vast and still increasing extent. We speak not 
now of the unexpected manner in which England has 
been allowed to become the mistress of India, or of the 
solemn responsibility which the mighty transfer has im¬ 
posed on us. These are subjects for consideration in a 
subsequent chapter. We advert to the striking fact, 
that Providence has permitted us to acquire politi¬ 
cal influence over about a hundred millions of immor¬ 
tal beings in India, as a very cheering view for those 
who meditate their conversion to God. And this fact 
becomes still more encouraging and significant of the 
Divine designs, when we remember that the country 
has already been in the hands of the Portuguese, who, 
by their cruelty, opposed its religious improvement, 
and of the Dutch, who neglected it, and is now intrusted 
to the only people who possess the means, humanly 
speaking, of benefiting it. 

Now what reflecting Christian but must perceive, in 
this view of the state of the world, strong encourage¬ 
ment to Missionary enterprise ? Let him not fear that 

25 * 


294 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


we shall overrate its importance ; or be tempted by it 
to withdraw our supreme confidence from Him u who 
is our hope.” We are free to admit that our extensive 
influence has been acquired by no design or forethought 
on our part, but in the providential course of events 
from the expansiveness of our energies, and the inherent 
advantages of that civilization for which we are indebted 
to our religion. Nor can we forget that the occasion 
which led to the colonization of America by the Puri¬ 
tans ; the bribery and bloodshed by which we have 
obtained large portions of India ; and the countenance 
still afforded to its hateful idolatry, are all calculated 
to cast a stain upon our glory, and may well induce us 
to rejoice with trembling. Still, it is not the less our 
duty, rather it is calculated to augment our gratitude, 
to remark that, in defiance of all our own deserts, and 
of all human calculation, our political position abounds 
with encouragement to Missionary exertion. 

Suppose, for instance, that Christendom and Mahom¬ 
etanism were to exchange their relative positions ; 
that the former were declining and superannuated, 
existing on the mere sufferance of the latter, and ex¬ 
pecting to be finally driven from Europe ; while the 
standard of the prophet was planted in the heart of the 
continent, the scymetar flashing around the shores of 
the Mediterranean, and one province and island after 
another resounding for the first time with the cry of 
the muezzin,—would the change cast no shade over 
our Missionary prospects ? Whatever our duty might 
be, would our hopes remain undiminished ? Would not 
a revolution, which should cast Mahometanism to the 
earth, and place Christendom in its present attitude of 
security and superiority above it, bring back a great 
accession of encouragement to the Missionary cause, 
and be regarded by us as a loud call to increased 
activity ? 

Suppose, again, that those on whom the modern 
Missionary spirit has descended, inhabited a country 
situated in the centre of the European continent, destitute 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


295 


of a navy, and strangers to commerce, would the want 
of all our present maritime facilities be unfelt and unde¬ 
plored ? Is it nothing that this spirit has been excited 
among those whose subject territory is thrice as large 
as that of ancient Rome, whose colonies people every 
quarter of the globe, and whose ships crowd every port 
of every shore ? This is not accident. It is the finger 
of God pointing out our duty to the world, and the voice 
of God cheering us on to perform it. 

Is it nothing, again, that India u is open ?” Only a 
little more than a century ago, it was as likely, to all 
appearance, that the Mogul Empire would have passed 
into the hands of France, of Portugal, of Denmark, 
of Holland, or even of Russia, as of England. But, 
under the jealous despotism of Russia, or the ascend¬ 
ency of a Romish power, India would have been closed 
against the Missionary. And is it nothing, then, that it 
has been given to the only Protestant power capable of 
efficiently discharging the high mission of genuine 
Christianity throughout the East ? Let the Christian 
reader, who beholds in it a special providence, derive 
from it also special encouragement to increased Mission¬ 
ary effort. 


SECTION III. 

MISSIONARY ENCOURAGEMENT ARISING FROM THE MORAL ASPECT OF 

THE WORLD. 

1. Another source of encouragement to Missionary 
exertion arises from the moral aspect of the various 
parts of the world. And here, if we begin our exami¬ 
nation with the least hopeful of those parts—the Maho¬ 
metan, and select the least auspicious sections even of 
these—Persia and Turkey, we shall find that never 
did the Moslem ranks present so broken a front, and 



296 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


invite aggression with so great a prospect of success as 
at present. The political state of these countries is a 
correct representation of their moral condition. Persia, 
by its heretical adherence to Ali, divides the Mussul¬ 
man power ; and becomes a source of solicitude and 
weakness to Turkey. As Mahomet appealed to the 
sword in proof of the divinity of his mission, u every 
battle lost is an argument lostso that the evidence 
of his creed is nearly at its minimum. Science and 
philosophy are against it, for of all the systems of false 
religion, that of the impostor is the least true to nature ; 
so that almost every fresh scientific discovery is the 
preparation of a new weapon with which to assail it, 
and every Mahometan that begins to reason, is a votary 
lost. The Ottomans themselves, are possessed with a 
melancholy foreboding of their doom ; and the events 
of every year only serve to deepen the gloom of their 
prospects. Their moral aspect now, therefore, is that 
of a foe comparatively disarmed and disheartened ; and 
though he who should denounce the Caaba, or preach 
the Cross, in the streets of Constantinople, would pro¬ 
bably find the cadi and bigotry as active us ever, yet 
the history of Henry Martyn shows us how patiently the 

Islamite will attend to the claims of Christianity, when 

* ' 

judiciously presented, and how beneficial an influence 
may be exercised by religious conversation alone. 

2. There was a time when the Polytheism of India 
was deemed unchangeable. It is evident, however, not 
only that multitudes of Hindoos adopted, from whatever 
motives, the religion of their Mahometan conquerors ; 
but that, without any foreign inducement, they have 
voluntarily passed through the usual gradations of error, 
and exhibited the ordinary love of change. From the 
worship of the elements they have advanced to Brahmin- 
ical Polytheism ; from Polytheism to the Pantheism of 
the Budhists ; and from Budhism have returned to 
Brahminism again. So that all our fears of the immo¬ 
bility of the Hindoo character have been long since 
proved to be unfounded. It should be remembered 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


297 


also, that the religion prevalent through all the regions 
of the East is substantially the same. For the Brah- 
minism of Hinclostan is only a more popular form of 
the strict Pantheism which prevails to the north and 
the east, and which is satisfied with the one incarnation 
of Budh. So that in dissolving the fatal charm of 
Hindooism, w 7 e should not be benefiting a single nation, 
merely, but breaking the spell by which nearly half the 
race are morally enslaved. 

Remarkable it is, too, that there should be one coun¬ 
try of the East which has given religion, science, and 
civilization to all the rest; for from India have pro¬ 
ceeded the Missionaries of the Lamas, the Bonzes, and 
of Budh, the last of the Indian incarnations—a fact 
which awakens the hope that when the same land 
embraces Christianity, it will be equally ready to fur¬ 
nish Missionaries of the Cross for the very extremities 
of Asia. Still more remarkable is it, that this one 
country, to which all the surrounding regions look as 
the fountain of holiness and wisdom, should be placed 
by Providence at our disposal. To heighten our en¬ 
couragement, the ancient and antiquated religion of 
this one country has fallen into discredit, and is rapidly 
on the decline. Where one new temple is built, sixty 
are allowed to go to ruin. Many of the seminaries 
where the shastres are studied, are closed for want of 
pupils. Nodea and Santapore, the two most celebrated 
of these colleges, and which formerly had from three to 
four thousand students, have not at present more than 
three or four hundred. The Brahmins themselves 
have lost so much of their influence with the people, 
that their curses are but little dreaded, or their bless¬ 
ings desired. Hundreds of them have renounced the 
priesthood, as no longer able to afford them the means 
of living. The links of caste are fractured, and the 
very weight of the chain is threatening a powerful reac¬ 
tion against it. 

Who does not behold in all this a grand work of 
providential preparation for the Missionary enterprise 


203 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


in India ? And, as if nothing should be wanting to 
complete our encouragement, a large proportion of the 
population are already able to read and write ; a very 
general desire is felt to acquire the arts and sciences 
of Europe ; and the knowledge of these would necessi¬ 
tate and hasten the fall of Hindooism. A strong pre¬ 
sentiment that its doom is sealed is daily extending ; 
and such is the comparative indifference for its fate, 
that, in numerous instances, the Christian Missionary 
denounces idolatry in the very temple of the god. 

3. China—that world within itself—is doubtless sur¬ 
rounded with obstacles to conversion. But the exist¬ 
ence of these, constitute the very reason, and the only 
ground of necessity, why we should attempt it. She is 
guarded against the truth by more than one wall. Her 
material wall, as it has been justly remarked, is crumbling 
dust compared with her political ; her political wall is 
a mere illusion compared with her moral barriers— 
for civilization in China can hardly be called religious ; 
her moral wall of prejudice and pride is only that by 
which sin entrenches itself in every country and every 
heart. The wall which overtops the whole, and which 
we shall find it most difficult to surmount, is that which 
our own unbelief and ignorance have erected. Every 
other has been breached and entered. So far is China 
to be from being regarded as impregnable, that Judaism 
entered it probably prior to the Christian era. Bud- 
hism in the first century, Nestorianism in the seventh 
century, Mahometanism in the eighth century, and 
Romanism in the thirteenth century. Such was the 
success of Popery in China, especially in the hands 
of M. Ricci and Father Schaal, that many of the 
mandarins embraced its doctrines ; one province alone 
contained ninety churches and forty-five oratories ; a 
splendid church was built within the palace ; the 
mother, wife, and son of the emperor, Yung-leih, 
professed Christianity ; and nothing apparently pre¬ 
vented China from being added to the papal see but 
the disputes which broke out between the Jesuits and 
the Dominicans. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


299 


But besides the encouragement derivable from the 
fact that China has already been open to Missionary 
aggression, it should be gratefully remembered also 
that obstacles existing elsewhere are absent here ; and 
that many of those considerations which once operated 
as fears, have gradually vanished, or changed into 
hopes. The climate, for instance, so far from being 
relaxing or pestilential, is fully as salubrious as that 
of England, and much less changeable. The language, 
once deemed unattainable, has been mastered, and 
46 made easy and what an inducement should it 
furnish to the Christian student, that when he has 
mastered the Chinese symbols, he will be able to make 
himself intelligible from the mouth of the Ganges to 
the Amoor, and to indite a book—for nearly all can 
read—for more than one-third of the human race. 
The despotic unity of its government, by which the 
will of one man moves and rules the entire mass, may 
itself be made the means, under God, of its more easy 
and effectual reconstruction on Christian principles. 
At all events, the unity of character resulting from 
this unvarying uniformity of literature and government, 
is attended with this advantage to the Missionary, that 
to comprehend the sentiments and reply to the ob¬ 
jections of a single mind, is to master the views and 
objections of three hundred and sixty millions of 
human beings. In this respect, too, the magnitude of 
the population, once regarded as appalling, presents 
the Missionary with an advantage not to be met with 
elsewhere. But that which calls for special observation 
is, both that the Chinese mode of writing is current 
and legible far beyond the limits of China, throughout 
Cochin-China, Corea, and Japan, and that the popula¬ 
tion of China itself is bursting forth on every side, 
placing itself in voluntary contact with Christians, and 
seeking the shelter of European governments. Millions 
are already to be found in Burmah and Siam, in Pegu, 
Assam, and the Malayan Archipelago. All these are 
accessible to Missionary efforts. What has been ac- 


300 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


complished of late among these by the ardent and per¬ 
severing zeal of two or three individuals, encourages 
the hope and points out the way of benefiting China 
at large. For only let suitable measures be taken to 
evangelize the emigrant Chinese, and a race of Mis¬ 
sionaries will be thus provided, which, in despite of 
imperial edicts, will find their way into all parts of the 
empire, and become, in the hands of God, the instru¬ 
ments of its renovation. 

4. The most considerable body of barbarians on 
the face of the earth at present, living contiguously 
in the same region, is the forty millions of Central 
Africa. To the evangelization, or even the civilization, 
of this dense mass of barbarism, five obstacles formerly 
presented themselves, each of which was deemed in¬ 
superable—the judical sentence of God against 
them, their mental imbecility, the demoralizing influ¬ 
ence of slavery, the deadly nature of the climate, and 
the ferocious character of the native superstitions. 
To the first of these it is now considered a sufficient 
reply, that the Gospel repeals every national maledic¬ 
tion, and addresses itself to every creature. Missionary 
culture has proved that, as to the second, the charge 
of mental inferiority must in future lie rather against 
those who bring it than against the African. The 
third will be gradually obviated in the universal abo¬ 
lition of slavery—for the sentence of indignant human¬ 
ity has gone forth against it. While the emancipation 
of our slaves might go far to obviate the fourth; for 
what agency so fitted, physically and morally, to evan¬ 
gelize the inhabitants of the torrid zone as their con¬ 
verted brethren of the West Indies ? And, as to the 
last,—the ferocious character of African superstition,— 
it is now well ascertained that while their religious 
creed is too meagre and undefined to possess a power¬ 
ful hold on their minds, their religious practices, con¬ 
sisting of Gbeah and Fetishism, form a u reign of 
terror ” against which a very slight inducement would 
raise them in revolt. And hence, wherever the Gospel 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 301 

has been preached to them, “ Ethiopia has stretched 
out her hands unto God.” 

5. The other savage portions of the earth wear a 
more encouraging aspect still. As there is no peculiar 
obstacle to the religious instruction of the Aborigines 
of the Americas which European injustice has not 
created, it may be hoped that the Christian sympathy 
awakened in their behalf will be successful in removing 
it. While their comparative vicinity to the American 
churches encourages the hope of their more speedy 
recovery. Experiment has proved that the New Hol¬ 
lander may be reclaimed and elevated to Christian 
humanity ; and that New Zealand may become a pro¬ 
vince of the Prince of peace. Nearly the whole of 
Eastern Polynesia is converted to the Christian faith. 
And still as the Missionary stretches away towards the 
Fijis, and approaches New Caledonia, New Britain, New 
Ireland, and New Guinea, he finds the islands waiting 
for the law of the Lord. 

G. Christendom naturally divides itself into the 
Greek, Romish, and Reformed Churches : reserving 
the last for consideration in the next section, we may 
remark of the first, that, with all its unvarying child¬ 
ishness and love of toys, it is not without the prospect 
of improvement. Education is encouraged and pro¬ 
moted by the Emperor of Russia. The career of 
civilization on which that vast country has entered will 
necessarily bring her into contact with superior moral 
influences ; and there is nothing in the constitution 
of the Greek Church to prevent her deriving advant¬ 
age from them. According to a recent edict of the 
Emperor, Russian Georgia is to be “evangelized.” 
Signs of Missionary activity, even of the lowest kind , 
indicative of hope. 

7. There is reason to believe that the palmy days 
of the Romish Church have passed never to return. 
In the activity which she here and there exhibits, 
we see only the restlessness of petulance, and the 
hurried and uncertain expedients of fear. The Refor- 

26 


302 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


mation has left no part of Popery what it was before. 
The Press has imparted a power to public opinion by 
which the Inquisition—the extinguisher of opinion— 
has itself been extinguished. The circulation of the 
Bible has kindled a light from whose beams that sys¬ 
tem of darkness will never be able effectually to retire. 
The light of truth and the force of opinion are both 
against it. Even in Spain and Portugal, two of its 
strongholds, principles obtained with which, in its pre¬ 
sent form, it cannot long co-exist. 

But let us glance at European Christendom in its 
two great divisions of north and south,—Germany and 
France. The Rationalism of Germany has been long 
on the decline. Almost of a sudden, and without 
any cause which could be historically traced, a general 
dissatisfaction and disgust with it, seized the community. 
The teachers who favoured infidelity saw themselves 
in the minority. Philosophy, previously hostile to 
religion, declared itself the servant of the Christian 
faith. Supernaturalism obtained ascendency; and the 
still growing popularity of the “Pietists” augurs well 
for the diffusion of evangelical religion. 

The Naturalism of France, like the Rationalism 
of Germany, is on the wane. Voltaire, Diderot, and 
Cabanis are no longer authorities with cultivated 
minds. And, though the great bulk of the people 
are still plunged in materialism, the philosophy of 
spiritualism alone (such as it is) is popular with the 
educated; while, among the most enlightened part 
of the nation, a strong presentiment is said to pre¬ 
vail, of some approaching religious change. A spirit 
of religious inquiry is certainly abroad in France, such 
as has not been known since the time of the Reforma¬ 
tion. And the multiplication of Protestant Religious 
Societies, the gradual increase of faithful pastors in 
the Reformed National Church; and the eminent 
names of Neff, the Baron de Stael, Gonthier, with 
those who are at present living, exert an influence 
which naturally awakens the hope that that spirit of 
inquiry may lead, under God, to the happiest results. 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE, 


303 


8. Nor can we conclude these remarks on the moral 
condition of the various divisions of mankind, with¬ 
out adverting to the fact that even the mind of the 
Jews is beginning to awake. And though the philoso¬ 
phy of Mendelsohn is transferring them from the silly 
reveries of their rabbins to the anti-supernaturalism 
of Spinosa, the very circumstance of their change 
shows that much of their obstinacy is to be ascribed 

w 

to their ignorance, and that Christian kindness and 
instruction could never meet them more seasonably 
than now, in their passage from credulity to infidelity. 
Reformed synagogues have been opened at Berlin, 
Leipsic, Vienna, Carlsruhe, Breslau, London, and 
other places. The Karaite Jews, or Scripturists, have 
an especial claim upon the attention of Christians. 
And let us remember that “the partial blindness that 
has fallen upon Israel shall continue (only) till the 
full complement of the nations shall have been brought 
in, and then shall universal Israel be restored.” So 
that as nation after nation opens its gates to welcome 
the entrance of the Christian faith, the Jews cannot 
look on without being in some degree “ provoked to 
jealousy,” nor can we fail to recognise signs of their 
approaching recovery. 

Such are the moral signs of the times. We do not 
for a moment mistake them for signs of incipient con¬ 
version. We do not even interpret the most hopeful 
indication among them into a token of direct readiness to 
embrace the truth. The mind may leave one class of 
errors only to embrace a worse. All that we infer 
from the moral aspect of the world is, that if it be a 
more promising undertaking to assail a system of error, 
in the season of its age and weakness, than in the hour 
of its strength, that encouragement is now held out, 
for that season has arrived. If the time for recasting 
the metal is when it has reached a state of fusion, now 
is the period for employing the mould of the Gospel 
when the human mind is so generally indicative of 
being in the crucible, and of possessing unusual sus- 


304 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


ceptibility for new impressions. Look in what di¬ 
rection we will, the horizon of hope enlarges and 
brightens. The fanatical zeal of the Mahometan has 
burnt out. The priestly power of the Brahmin is 
broken, and his demons wait in vain for their pre¬ 
scribed libations of blood. The altar of the Chinese, 
empty, but standing, is waiting to welcome the advent 
of an unknown God. The South African chief comes 
from the remote interior, and offers his herds for a 
Christian teacher ; the vast kingdoms and islands be¬ 
yond the Ganges are ready for the reception of a 
number of Missionaries. In one quarter, Idolatry is 
losing its hold on millions ; in another, the savage is 
awakening from the sleep of centuries ; here, Popery 
is falling off from a nation, as a snake casts its gaudy 
but shrivelled skin ; there, philosophy is wearied out 
with its ever promising but unsatisfactory illusions ; 
and, elsewhere, childish credulity is becoming a man 
and putting away childish things. Every where are 
to be seen an impatience of the present, a deep pre¬ 
sentiment that it is hastening to decay, and a spirit 
of inquiry, anticipation, and change, looking out on 
the future. As it w T as with Judea and the East gene¬ 
rally about the era of the advent of the Son of God, 
the world is waiting for the advent of some principle 
or means which shall change its destinies. Now then 
is the time for the Church to proclaim to it, u Behold 
your God.” 


SECTION IV. 


ECCLESIASTICAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROMOTE THE MISSIONARY EN¬ 
TERPRISE. 

Of Protestant Christendom we proposed to speak sepa¬ 
rately. And as our object here will be to point out the 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


305 


ecclesiastical auspices of the Missionary enterprise, we 
shall direct our attention chiefly to England and 
English America. For, although some of the Pro¬ 
testant churches of Switzerland and Holland, France 
and Germany, are prepared to send their contingents 
into the field of Missionary labour, it may be expected 
that their resources will be almost entirely needed for 
years to come to meet the demands of home ; while 
the similar resources of England, meantime, and of her 
religious ally, are of a degree which devolve on them 
pre-eminently the office of the religious instructors of 
the world. 

That peculiar encouragements for the execution of 
the office exist, we have already seen. In vain would 
it be, however, to show that considerations historical, 
political, and moral, conspired to animate the Mis¬ 
sionary enterprise, if, at the same time, every thing 
in the Church itself seemed to forbid the attempt: 
if the Missionary spirit, for instance, had yet to be 
enkindled ; or if, having been excited, it was evidently 
on the decline ; or if, having existed for years, it yet 
exhibited no signs of improvement at home, nor was 
attended with any success abroad. But, in reality, 
the direct reverse of each of these suppositions is found 
to be the truth; and hence our ecclesiastical encourage¬ 
ment to advance. 

1. For, first, a Missionary spirit does exist in our 
churches. There was a time, and that not many years 
ago, when it did not exist. Here and there a Christian 
divine might occasionly advert to the desirableness 
of such a spirit; a Christian poet might tune his lyre 
to celebrate its glorious results ; and a Christian philan¬ 
thropist wish to behold the sublime reality. But so 
far from entertaining any definite views, or manifesting 
any active zeal on the subject, the Christian commu¬ 
nity, in general, resembled rather the altar and offering 
of Elijah when immersed in water. And as in great 
undertakings the first step is commonly the most diffi¬ 
cult and important, so here, now that fire has descended 
26 * 


306 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


from heaven to ignite the mass, we are prepared to see 
the whole gradually become a flaming sacrifice for the 
glory of God. That such a sacred kindling has com¬ 
menced, we have already demonstrated at large. Holy 
men of God have devoted themselves to the Missionary 
enterprise; Christians have associated for the purpose 
of sending them forth; and the result has been that 
voices have been heard in various parts of the moral 
wilderness of the world, crying, “Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord.” 

2. But let us rather proceed to show that not only 
does the Missionary spirit exist, but that it is also 
progressive. It has, we presume, passed that critical 
period in the history of a society or institution when, 
losing those sympathies which kindle so easily on 
contact with new objects, it must rely on principles, 
or perish. At first, the warm impulses of pious feeling 
alone might serve to prompt to the effort, and to supply 
the place of sober and substantial principles. But 
“ that spring time of novelty has passed. The ardent 
feeling and the excited imagination which threw so 
much interest over the prospect of the work, have 
given way to the grave reality of the work itself.” 
Every year has increasingly based its support on its 
own intrinsic claims. The great truth that every 
Christian is bound to do something for the diffusion of 
the Gospel, long hid from view like a sand-covered 
pyramid of the East, has been gradually disinterred 
and brought to light; till now it stands before the 
Church in its majestic proportions, and is universally 
recognised as the fundamental principle of the Mis¬ 
sionary enterprise. No longer is it deemed necessary 
to support it by arguments. Being admitted as an 
axiom in Christian ethics, all that remains is to point 
out its application, and to enforce its importance. 
And further, to show that the Church has been brought 
to act from a calm and simple sense of obligation, we 
might advert to the fact that since its modern Mis¬ 
sionary activity commenced, it has, in some instances, 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


307 


endured protracted trials and severe discomfitures, which 
would have put to flight all mere impulse, and which 
only a grave and deep-seated conviction of duty could 
have sustained. Notwithstanding the conviction that 
in this, as in every grand and lasting enterprise, the 
great law will obtain, that u one soweth and another 
reapeth,” the friends of Missions have continued to go 
forth to sow. 

It is an auspicious sign of the progress of a cause, 
when it can not only dispense with the impulse of mere 
excitement and fall back on its principles, but when, 
at the very same time, it is found to extend and 
deepen its influence on the public mind. Now the 
Missionary cause has done this. u Not to pray for the 
coming of the Messiah,” said the ancient Jewish pro¬ 
verb, u is not to pray at all.” And not to pray for the 
diffusion of his Gospel, it may now be said, is not to 
pray at all. Every prayer is expected to include it. 
In every religious family, the infant lisps of it in his 
earliest hymn. The u Missionary Box” is an object of 
notice alike in the nursery and the schoolroom, in the 
private residence and the public shop. The Missionary 
tract is in universal request in every Sunday school. 
The Missionary u Branch” or u Auxiliary,” is to be 
found in activity in every district and every congrega¬ 
tion. The Missionary Anniversary, is hailed as the 
return of a most welcome festival. The subject is to 
be met with in newspapers, and journals, and libraries, 
of almost every description. Ear and wide through 
the land does it enter into our literature, and form a 
part of the public reading. 

Nor is it confined to any one class of society. Be¬ 
ginning principally in the middle ranks, the Missionary 
spirit has descended and pervaded the mass of the Chris¬ 
tian poor, and at the same time has gradually drawn 
within its influence many in the highest circles of the 
nobility. Nor is it limited to any one denomination 
of the Christian community, or even to any particular 
portion of Christendom. Though some churches have 


303 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


attached themselves to the great Missionary organiza¬ 
tion more tardily, and are less powerfully influenced by 
the object than others, yet every orthodox Protestant 
body in Christendom has at length joined it, and gives 
signs of being affected by it in a similar manner. Among 
all Christians holding the doctrines of the Reformation, 
there is now a common mind in favour of the Missionary 
enterprise. 

The prosperity of a cause is indicated also when the 
numerical increase of its supporters is not made an 
excuse for the reduction of individual effort, but both 
are seen advancing together. Now the Missionary cause 
exhibits this sign. Each successive year has witnessed 
an increase on the income and activity of the year pre¬ 
ceding. Christians, trained to liberality by its benefi¬ 
cent spirit, have, in many instances doubled and 
quadrupled their subscriptions. A salutary reaction 
has been constantly going on between the increase of 
our labours abroad, and the enlarged demand on our 
resources at home. The more we have given, the more 
we have been enabled to do ; and the more we have 
done, the more we have been constrained to give. The 
spiritual wants of the world have been brought to light 
so much faster than we have been prepared to supply 
them, that we have happily been able to think little 
of what we have done, in the prospect of the prodigious 
field of labour yet to be occupied. While every at¬ 
tempt to raise the standard of Christian liberality and 
activity, has been, upon the whole, so promptly re¬ 
sponded to by the great body of the faithful, that we 
are impelled to the conclusion that considerable re¬ 
sources are yet to be explored, and to the holy resolution 
that every succeeding year shall continue to deveiope 
and employ them. And may we not on these grounds 
warrantably hope that, though partial relapses may 
occasionally mark the Missionary spirit, and even par¬ 
ticular Societies fail, the next generation will prosecute 
the work with greater ardour than the present, and the 
generation following with still increased zeal; and that 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


309 


thus the devotedness of the followers of Christ will ap¬ 
proximate nearer and nearer to the elevated standard of 
his blessed Gospel ? 

And it augurs well for the prosperity of a cause 
when it allows of receiving, and actually adopts, from 
time to time, the improvements, which, being human, 
it indispensably requires. Many an institution, full 
of promise at first, has perished through want of com¬ 
pliance with this easy but important condition. Now 
the history of Christian Missions is a record of suc¬ 
cessive corrections and improvements. We may instance 
the gradual improvement in the kind of instrumentality 
which they have employed. To say nothing of the 
sword alone; and then of the sword and the symbol 
of the cross, conjoined—for these belonged to a too 
distant period, and a too questionable object—we behold 
in the early history of modern Missions the strange 
conjunction of the Missionary and a royal edict, as in 
the Mission sent to Lapland by Gustavus Vasa ; the 
Missionary and commerce, as in the first Danish Mission 
to Greenland ;* the Missionary and the promise of civil 
distinctions, as in the attempts of the Dutch to evan¬ 
gelize Ceylon. And even in the early history of our 
present institutions, it was considered in some instances 
essential to success, that the Missionary should be pre¬ 
ceded by civilization rather than be the means of intro¬ 
ducing it; while in others, perhaps, there was too great 
a tendency to neglect the means of civilization, even 
after Christianity had obtained a footing. The Mis¬ 
sionary without the Bible, has, and ever must be, while 
Popery remains what it is, the great defect of Catholic 
Missions ; and yet some of our early efforts to convert 
the heathen were in danger of suffering from the same 
deficiency. Then came the full conviction, that educa¬ 
tion, never perhaps, entirely neglected, should uniformly 
accompany the preaching of the Missionary, and form 

* The king of Denmark ordered a lottery in favor of the Green¬ 
land Mission and commerce. 


310 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


an essential part of his regular labours. On this fol¬ 
lowed the clear perception, that if the Bible was to be 
translated, the barbarian to be civilized and instructed, 
and a Christian community built up, the Missionary 
corps should be u picked men that instead of rating 
their requirements, lower than those of the ministry at 
home, the holiest and ablest men the Church could 
send forth were the fittest. And then came the convic¬ 
tion of the importance of training and employing native 
Christian agency—a step, perhaps, more pregnant with 
good to the Missionary enterprise than even the increase 
of our own Missionaries. 

During all this time, too, the friends of Missions have 
been learning the importance of system in their pro¬ 
ceedings ; while the wisdom which they have been 
acquiring by experience, has enabled them to system¬ 
atize in the manner best adapted to their ultimate 
object. On the happy reciprocal influence of home and 
foreign activity; on the kind of preparation necessary 
for the Missionary work; on the right selection of Mis¬ 
sionary stations ; and on the mutual adaptation of agents 
and stations—on these, and a variety of correlative par¬ 
ticulars, their views have been receiving perpetual cor¬ 
rection and expansion. And it may not be out of place 
to remark here, that if their object be to publish the 
Gospel every where in the shortest time, a more judi¬ 
cious selection of Missionary posts could hardly have 
been made than that which, by a wisdom higher than 
their own, they now occupy. Few as those stations are, 
compared with the vast field of heathenism, they are 
so distributed that the efforts of the Church must soon 
be heard of by the great proportion of mankind, and 
the entire world meantime may be said to be calling 
for relief within view and hearing of the Church. 

3. Another auspicious fact is, that at such a con¬ 
juncture the providence of God should furnish so 
many facilities and auxiliaries for the prosecution of 
the work. The intercommunity between all the pro¬ 
vinces of the Roman empire which aided the early 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


311 


propagation of the Gospel, and the newly-formed 
power of the press which came in aid of the Reform¬ 
ation, though parallel facts, are not to be compared 
with the subsidiary aids in the service of the Gospel 
at present. What, for instance, was the intercom¬ 
munity to which we have alluded, compared with the 
facilities afforded now, by improved navigation alone, 
for visiting the remotest parts of the earth? Was 
the central position of Judea a favourable circumstance 
for the first diffusion of the Gospel ? Britain is the 
Phoenicia of the modern world, with every part of 
which we are in constant communication. Was the 
early propagation of Christianity materially promoted 
by the dispersion of the Jews among the surrounding 
nations ? Still more widely are British Christians 
distributed among the nations now, and still more 
effectually therefore have they the means of con¬ 
tributing to the same glorious end. Did the greatness 
of the Roman empire present an ample field for 
Missionary exertion ? it is only an angle of the field 
which now awaits our labour. The transmarine pos¬ 
sessions of Britain have an area of 2,200,000 square 
miles, a sea coast of 20,000 nautical miles, and a 
population of 120,000,000. But our labours are not 
limited to these; our “field is the world.” Did “the 
gift of tongues” conduce to the primitive diffusion 
of the Gospel ? The power of the press has come 
to us in its stead, enabling us to speak to the nations 
in a manner not dependent on the utterance of the 
speaker, but which often anticipates his arrival, pre¬ 
pares the minds of a people for his message, and 
continues to echo it, after his departure, from gene¬ 
ration to generation. So mighty a power and so rich 
a gift is this, that had we to choose between it and 
the gift of tongues, we should all probably give it 
our decided preference. In a single year it multiplies 
copies of the Holy Scriptures by thousands and 
hundreds of thousands; and, if need be, it could 
multiply them in the same time by as many millions. 


312 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


So that as far as the means for the propagation of 
the Gospel are concerned, the Bible Society alone 
gives us a decided advantage over the primitive Church. 
Having u rolled a noble stream of truth through the 
earth, it requires that the Missionary should stand 
upon the banks, and cry, 4 Ho, every one that thirsteth, ' 
come ye to the waters.’ ” 

Success is seldom or never the result of a single 
influence ; and in addition to the complex aid to the 
Missionary enterprise we have already named, we may 
notice the favourable influence of the British character. 
The fact of our success in arms, our love of regulated 
liberty, and our priority in the race of scientific and 
civil improvement ; our national enterprise, and the 
unparalleled extent of our colonial possessions ; our 
reputation for commercial integrity, for all that is 
humane, generous, and noble in designs of benevolence ; 
and the multiplicity of our moral means for accom¬ 
plishing them ; these, and many other elements of 
individual worth and national greatness, tend to invest 
our Missionary character with additional weight in 
every part of the earth. How far the general diffusion 
of the English language and literature may have already 
subserved the Missionary object we know not, nor 
how much that object would be likely to be promoted 
by their ultimate universality ; but it is clear that 
if any language is likely to become universal, that 
language is the English ; and that, considering how 
deeply most of our early standard works are imbued 
with a religious spirit, none could have fallen in with 
our evangelical design more directly than this. 

We might invite special observation to the fact 
that certain influences which a few years ago were 
arrayed not against the Missionary enterprise merely, 
but against evangelical religion itself, are now ranged 
on their side. Science—chemistry alone—destroys 
Polytheism, root and branch. All the superstitions 
of the world involve more or less the worship of the 
elements ; but chemistry can decompose those very 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


313 


elements themselves, and thus leave the Hindoo without 
his gods : so that a child armed with a microscope 
is mightier, and more to be dreaded by Brahminism, 
than Samson by the Philistines, when he slew them 
u heaps upon heaps.” 

The aspect which the national government, and that 
mighty power called public opinion, now present to 
the cause of Missions, exhibit an auspicious contrast 
with the past. There was a time when the English 
Missionary in India was indebted for protection to 
the Danish crown. There was a time when the cry 
was raised, for anti-missionary purposes, that our empire 
in India ivas an empire of opinion , and when all the 
force of that empire was against us. There was a 
time when the press was kept in spasms of activity 
by the Christian advocates of heathenism for India ; 
when pamphlet after pamphlet proclaimed their vene¬ 
ration for the ancient Hindoo pantheon, and their 
rage at any mark of contempt shown to it, as if an 
affront had been offered to a valued friend, which 
they were bound most indignantly to resent. But let 

us mark, in a single instance, the indication of a 

change. u It is a happy circumstance,” says the 
“ Friend of India,” u that Providence has placed so 
great a number of the Burmese provinces under the 
sway of Britain, in which the Missionaries” (driven 
from Ava and Rangoon, where a cruel persecution 
has been raised against the native converts,) u are at 

liberty to carry on their benevolent labours without 

hindrance. It is not a little singular that whereas 
the Burmese Mission grew out of the persecution of 
the British Government thirty years ago, which con¬ 
strained the Missionaries to seek for spheres of labour 
beyond the reach of British interference; at present, 
the salvation of the Burmese Mission is owing, under 
God, to the protection which that same Government, 
more alive to its Christian obligations, is enabled to 
afford in its conquered provinces.” 

In addition to all these auxiliaries to the cause of 
27 


314 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


Missions, we might point attention to two to which 
we have already incidentally adverted,—to education, 
and native agency. By the former of these we are 
comparatively foregoing partial and immediate success, 
for the sake of preparing with much greater certainty, 
and to an incomparably wider extent, the future 
overthrow of idolatry, and a consequent way for the 
march of the truth over its ruins. And, by the latter, 
we are not only taking to the converted heathen the 
fruits of the tree of life, but, in a sense, are planting 
the tree in their soil, and leaving it to grow and 
flourish among them. 

Now if our remarks on Missionary progress proved 
that there is more of a Missionary spirit in the Church 
at present than has ever existed since primitive times, 
our observations on Missionary facilities tend to show 
that our amount of means for the conversion of the 
world is considerably greater than existed even during 
those times. All the weapons of victory which they 
possessed, with the exception of miracles, are at our 
disposal; and others of equal and even superior power 
are added to them. Some of these, indeed, are chiefly 
in the service of the world, but they exist for the 
Church. Others were obstacles, but have become 
auxiliaries. Indeed, whatever designates Britain as 
the country destined by Providence to take the lead in 
works of beneficence, must be regarded as an encou¬ 
ragement to the Missionary enterprise ; and to a Church 
alive to this object, all things around are ready and 
offer themselves as an apparatus for its successful 
prosecution. 

4. But not only is the Missionary spirit in existence, 
in progress, and surrounded by numerous and powerful 
auxiliaries; it has been crowned with signal success. 
Had only a single instance of usefulness attended its 
endeavours, even that would have been sufficient to 
redeem the enterprise from mere hopelessness. But 
the preceding Part contains abundant evidence to show 
that our success has been fully proportioned to our 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


315 


efforts; that advantages have flown from our activity 
which nothing else could have conferred; and that the 
glorious result has abundantly exceeded the most san¬ 
guine expectations of those with whom the enterprise 
began. 

We will here add only two remarks, that great as 
our Missionary success has been already, the Christian 
Church is filled with the expectation of seeing greater 
things than these. While a sentiment of despondency 
and vague apprehension hangs over the regions of false 
religion, in the Christian Church the present is an era 
of expectation and hope; and the influence of hope 
contributes not a little to the accomplishment of its 
own predictions. Besides which, the friends of Chris¬ 
tian Missions are entertaining a confident persuasion 
of the approach of a period when the influence of the 
Spirit will descend with much greater efficacy, and their 
success will be far greater than at present, in proportion 
to the measure of their exertion. They deem it u rea¬ 
sonable to believe,” says Foster, in the admirable 
Discourse already adverted to, u that when once a cer¬ 
tain point of success has been attained, the mere accu¬ 
mulation of power and influence on the side of truth 
will impart an irresistible momentum and a greatly 
accelerated velocity to religious principles, so that the 
last conquest of Christianity shall be accomplished in 
an incomparably shorter period than has been occupied 
in achieving its first successes.” Judging from the 
past, they think it likely that when the native mind of 
a populous heathen land begins to awake and act, it 
will act in masses ; that the law of sympathy, becoming 
subservient to a higher influence, the u wind will blow 
where it listeth,” so that no one will be able to say 
whence the impulse came, or what is the direction it 
will take. Thus, may u a nation be born in a day.” 
“ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plow¬ 
man shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes 
him that soweth seed.” 

The conversion of many parts of the earth, like that 


316 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


of Polynesia, will probably be effected with a rapidity 
which will take even the Church by surprise. And 
thus it will be seen that “ God had prepared the people, 
for the thing was done suddenly;” and u he shall bear 
the glory.” 


SECTION V. 

EVANGELICAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROMOTE THE MISSIONARY 

ENTERPRISE. 

But our great fund of Missionary encouragement is 
evangelical, being derived exclusively from the word of 
God. And so animating and ample is this, that were 
all the others not only wanting, but converted into so 
many sources of apprehension, we should yet rely on 
the ultimate success of our endeavours. 

1. In order, however, that we may not retread the 
ground we have already passed over, nor open too wide 
a field for fresh observation, we shall here confine our¬ 
selves to three specific grounds of encouragement. 
The first of these consists of the fact that the Missionary 
enterprise has to receive the benefit of a vast amount 
of prayer, as yet unanswered, in its behalf. It was pre¬ 
dicted of Solomon, as typical of Christ, <c prayer also 
shall be made for him continually.” And it is cheering 
to reflect, that in the present day there is a sense in 
which the prophecy has received, literally, its evange¬ 
lical accomplishment. u Last evening,” wrote a Mis¬ 
sionary from China, a few years ago, u a small party 
of the disciples of Jesus held a meeting for prayer in 
my rooms, in behalf of the heathen around, and for the 
kingdom of Christ throughout the world. In this land 
of the rising sun, we may probably be considered as 
beginning that series of prayer-meetings which are kept 
up all around the world on the first Monday of tho 




THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


317 


month ; a chain of prayer, beginning at the farthest 
east, and carried round successively as the sun advances 
to the farthest west in the islands of the Pacific ocean, 
and thus continued for twenty-four hours monthly.” 

Now it is only to pursue this calculation, and to sup¬ 
pose that wherever there are Christians to pray monthly 
in public for the kingdom of Christ, there are some 
to pray daily in private for the same object, and then we 
are brought to the delightful conclusion, that prayer 
is made for him continually ; that as the aged believer, 
like David, breathes out his last prayer for the glory 
of his reign, another generation is just beginning to lisp, 
“ Thy kingdom come and as the Christians of one 
province are rising from their knees before the throne 
of grace, the Christians of another province are just 
beginning to take up the language of supplication for 
Christ ; and thus a chain of prayer, beginning in the 
farthest east, is carried round with the sun to the far¬ 
thest west in the islands of the Pacific, through all the 
hours of time. 

And how much more pleasing does this reflection 
become when we add to it the thought, that of all the 
prayers which are thus offered for the reign of Christ, 
making one unbroken strain of supplication, not one 
ever has been or can be lost. Is it true that every sin 
committed by his enemies is noticed by a God of un¬ 
spotted holiness ? that every transgression adds some¬ 
thing to the treasures of his wrath ; and that when the 
cup of vengeance is full, he pours it forth on the heads 
of the guilty ?—As certainly true is it that every prayer 
of faith offered by his people in behalf ot his Son, is 
noticed by a God of infinite love ; that every such 
prayer adds something to the treasures of his grace ; 
and that when these treasures have accumulated to a 
certain amount, he pours them forth upon the Church 
and the world. It is as certainly true that at the very 
moment when such a prayer is offered, in that very 
moment he answers it in his Divine intention, though 
he may wisely delay for a time to answer it really. The 

27* 


318 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


suppliant himself may forget his own supplication, or 
may despair of obtaining an answer ; but He is still 
mindful of it. And however obscure the suppliant, 
He prizes it. It is prayer for his Son, and as such, it 
is music in his ear, of which he loses not a single note. 
It is a prayer for the coming of his kingdom, and as 
such he places it among the perfumed supplications 
already offered by the saints of past generations ; he 
places it among the last aspirations breathed by u David, 
the son of Jesse,” and of every ancient worthy; among 
the mighty prayers which ascended from the fires of 
the early martyrs; among the loud cries of those whose 
souls are heard from under the altar ; among the earnest 
entreaties of the wide creation, which sighs to be deliv¬ 
ered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
liberty of the sons of God. It is a prayer for the 
salvation of a world which he loves ; and, with delight, 
he beholds it flow into a channel in which a stream 
of prayer has been for ages flowing and accumulating 
without a moment’s pause, and which shall finally over¬ 
flow and pour forth a healing flood of heavenly grace 
over the whole earth. If the success which has hitherto 
attended our Missionary efforts is to be regarded as 
sent partly in answer to prayer, an indefinite amount 
of success is yet to come, if only to complete that 
answer; for that prayer has aimed at nothing less than 
the salvation of the world. And our partial success 
proves that it will come; proves that, like the vapour 
which the earth sends up to heaven to be returned 
again in fruitful showers, the supplications of the 
Church form a cloud which is at this moment suspended 
over the whole field of moral cultivation, ready, at 
the word of God, to discharge its fertilizing contents. 
u Ye that love the Lord, keep not silence.” 

2. But the efforts of Christians to evangelize the 
world have also to receive the benefit of many a yet 
unfulfilled promise and prediction of Divine influence. 
This is a source of encouragement additional to the 
former; for it both anticipates our prayers, and directs 
us to the object at which they should aim. 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


319 


We are taught to believe, in the word of God, that 
for every degree of spiritual success we are entirely 
dependent on the agency of the Holy Spirit. But, in 
order that this doctrine might tend to animate our 
efforts, as well as to render us humble, we are also 
assured that a measure of his influence shall accompany 
every scriptural effort we make, and be imparted in 
answer to every prayer of faith we present. The whole 
system of religious means, indeed, is divinely appointed, 
and expressly intended, as that in immediate connexion 
with which He is to act; and all the spiritual good 
already accomplished has been effected, so far as we 
can ascertain, by the Holy Spirit in this connexion. 
But we are taught, also, that this gracious arrangement 
still leaves him at libertv to exceed that assurance as 

y 

he pleases. Indeed, we are taught this by the manner 
in which he often fulfils that very assurance; for while 
he never disappoints the just expectations which it has 
excited in his people, the circumstances attending their 
fulfilment exhibit the endless diversity of unconfined 
and unconfinable power. Hence the reason of the 
language, u In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not 
whether shall prosper, this or that.” 

But while we are to regulate our expectations as to 
the success of particular efforts, we are animated with 
confidence as to the final success of the entire work. 
If it is not given us to assign the manner or the degree 
in which particular instances of success will take place, 
it is only, perhaps, that our confidence may be more 
undivided and fixed on the success destined to crown 
the great system of means taken as a whole. For the 
substantial import of numerous Divine predictions is, 
that the Spirit shall be poured out from on high; that 
he shall be poured out upon all flesh ; and that then 
the wilderness will be a fruitful field, and the fruitful 
field be counted for a forest. Now, as he uniformly 
operates for the truth, or in connexion with it; and 
as the object of the Missionary enterprise is the uni- 


320 


ENCOURA GEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


versal diffusion of the truth, we are encouraged to look 
for the fulfilment of these predictions in the success of 
this enterprise. And since the only way in which he 
has ever acted as if he had forgotten his promise, is, by 
doing exceeding abundantly above all which it had 
led us to ask or think, we are encouraged to hope for 
a period when the amount of his influence will be much 
greater than at present, as compared with the amount 
of our activity. But if such a period be in reserve, it 
must be nearer now than at any preceding moment ; 
and if any signs are to indicate its approach, we may 
surely recognize some in the returning anxiety and 
activity of the Church for the salvation of the world, 
and in the preparation which the world exhibits for 
some great moral change. And what else will be neces¬ 
sary but the arrival of such a period for the consum¬ 
mation of all our Missionary designs ? Only let the 
Church behold the fulfilment of the promises and pre¬ 
dictions which relate to the impending influences of the 
Holy Spirit, and the work will be as good as accom¬ 
plished. The three thousand souls added to the Church 
in one day by the preaching of St. Peter, would then 
prove to have been intended as a mere earnest of the 
rapid progress which the faith should make universally. 
Like the first rumour of victory, the news of salvation 
should seem to fly swifter than the speed of the mes¬ 
sengers sent to proclaim it; and wherever proclaimed, 
the people should bow before it. 

3. And then, finally, all our scriptural activity for 
the diffusion of the Gospel is in obedience to the will 
of Christ, and its final success is secured by the fact 
of his mediatorial reign. The, essential connexion of 
these two propositions was established by Christ him¬ 
self, when he said, cc All power is given unto me, in 
heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all 
nations intimating, that not only is the great system 
of universal providence committed to his hands, but 
that it is committed to him expressly that it may be 
made subservient to the successful diffusion and eventual 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


321 


triumph of his Gospel. As if, having entered the spacious 
treasury of God, and taken account of all its infinite 
stores; having reckoned up all the orders of heavenly 
intelligences, and marked their respective capacities for 
his service; having looked down through all the ages of 
time, counted its generations and numbered its events, he 
had said, x4.ll these shall be harmonized, combined into a 
system, and made contributory to the one object of hu¬ 
man salvation. Vast as is the space they occupy, there 
is not a point in it which shall not in some way be im¬ 
pressed with the signs of their activity; a theatre less ample 
would not be adequate to the developement of my plan. 
Diversified as are the kinds and degrees of influence 
they are calculated to exert, and even hostile as many 
of them are to my purpose and to each other, there is 
not one of them all which cannot, and which shall not, 
yield its proportion of willing or unwilling service. 
And distant as is the period when the last soul shall 
be saved, there shall not be a moment through the 
whole of the mighty interval in which all these count¬ 
less and far-reaching agencies shall not be gradually 
concentrating their forces, and pointing, more and more 
directly, to that grand consummation. u All power is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth; go ye, therefore, 
and preach the Gospel.” 

The connexion of these encouraging views with the 
preceding parts, as well as their practical application, 
are direct and important. The facts and sentiments of 
which these parts consist, are themselves encourage¬ 
ments to Missionary exertion ; and as such, they natu¬ 
rally fall in with our present train of remark, and mul¬ 
tiply our incentives to increased activity. 

For instance, is it a slender encouragement to those 
who are embarked in the Missionary enterprise to find 
that the Christian Church is constructed expressly with a 
view to that great object ? Should it afford us only slight 
encouragement to find that the aggressive principles 
of such a church were shown to be practicable as soon 
as they were made known, and were attended with 


322 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


unexampled success as soon as they were put into 
activity ? Ought it to yield us only small encourage¬ 
ment to find that the tenor of prophecy, even to its last 
words, tells of Missionary labours and of a triumphant 
Gospel ? Or ought it to be regarded as auspicious only 
in a very slight degree that, as far as we have acted 
under the influence of these encouragements in modern 
times, they have proved authentic ? that our Missionary 
usefulness has been fully proportioned to our endea¬ 
vours ? and that advantages have flown from it both 
of a kind and a degree on which the most sanguine of 
those with whom it commenced had never calculated ? 
And, considering the obstacles which stood in the 
way of this success, and the remarkable manner in^ 
which many of them have been removed, how con¬ 
siderately and kindly our impatience has been rebuked, 
our errors corrected, and our ignorance instructed; 
how opportunely suitable agents have been raised up 
for occupying peculiar spheres of usefulness ; and how 
unexpectedly aid has come in from the most unlikely 
quarters, and enemies and apparent evils been convert¬ 
ed into valuable auxiliaries and friends ; are we not 
constrained to trace it to the glorious fact, that “ the 

God of our Lord Jesus Christ.hath put all 

things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over 
all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness 
of him that filleth all in all ?” 

We commenced the present Part by showing that 
the history of Christianity, from the earliest times to 
the present, is replete with encouragement to attempt 
its further propagation ; that even in the first age of 
its existence, when it was the mark at which every 
weapon human and infernal was levelled, each of its 
conflicts was a splendid victory ; that even its moral 
weakness has been too strong for barbarian might; 
that its false friends have never been able to corrupt 
it beyond its power of self-renovation ; nor its avowed 
enemies to assail it, even at its greatest disadvantage, 
without finding to their cost that it is still as vigorous 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


323 


and aggressive as ever. Now after all this accumulated 
evidence that Christ is invested with supreme power, 
and that he wields it for the protection and progress of 
his Gospel, can we believe that he is the same yester¬ 
day, to-day, and for ever, without feeling that our cause 
is invulnerable, and its triumphant issue secure ? 

On taking a survey of the political world in its rela¬ 
tion to the Church, we have seen that all the rest of 
the globe seems placed by Providence at the disposal 
of Christendom ; that of all the nations of Christendom, 
those which are especially distinguished with political 
influence over the Pagan and Mahometan regions are 
the Reformed, and anti-papal powers; and that of 
these powers, Britain and America, the only Pro¬ 
testant nations capable, at present, of becoming the 
religious Teachers of the world, are the nations to 
which has been given the political command of those 
regions. Now, can we mark these cc wheels within a 
wheel,” can we account for these imperia in imperio , 
without resolving them into the sublime truth that the 
Lord reigneth ? Or can we believe that this threefold 
collocation of the various parts of the world around the 
Missionary portion of the Church, results from his medi¬ 
atorial arrangements, without hearing the loud and en¬ 
couraging call which arises from it to u go forwards ?” 

Besides which, the moral aspect of the mass of 
mankind, as we have seen, presents encouragement to 
the same effect. Not only is the heathen world ar¬ 
ranged, in a sense, around the Church, but its state is 
that of feebleness, exhaustion, and desire of relief. 
Without knowing what is the nature of its malady, 
it is sick at heart, and panting for a change. Now if 
its political position in relation to the Church evinces 
the provident activity of the reign of Christ, is not 
that evidence materially increased when viewed in con¬ 
nexion with its moral condition ? It is not only 
brought to our door, but brought at a moment when 
it is famishing. It is not merely placed within our 
reach, but is actually fallen at our threshold. Could 


324 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE 


any conjunction of circumstances afford us a better 
opportunity of presenting the Gospel, or a more en¬ 
couraging prospect of its favourable reception ? 

And should it not add something to our hopes that 
this happy juncture has arrived at the very moment 
when the Church, after neglecting the world for centu¬ 
ries, is awakening to its Missionary obligations ? Is 
not such a coincidence indicative of providential ar¬ 
rangement, and worthy of it ? Is it nothing that the 
commencement of the Missionary enterprise should 
have proved like the bursting forth of a fountain of 
internal prosperity in the Church itself ? Is it nothing 
that Missionary, Bible, and Educational Societies 
should have arisen precisely in that order of succession 
which the nature of the case required ? Should it pass 
unnoticed that all the great discoveries and improvements 
of science are more or less auxiliary to Missionary pur¬ 
poses ? and even if no other encouraging consideration 
could be adduced, ought not the single fact that God has 
smiled on our efforts, to be sufficient of itself to induce 
us to proceed ? Ought not the firm persuasion that 
there are many who, by the blessing of God on our 
instrumentality, have been rescued from the depths of 
heathenism, and who are at this moment swelling the 
chorus of the blessed above, to animate our zeal, and 
redouble our endeavours ? 

But the great evangelical fund of encouragement 
remains to be considered. Does the effectual fervent 
prayer of a righteous man avail much ? The Mission¬ 
ary enterprise inherits the prayers of the entire Church. 
All the redeemed in heaven have prayed for it ; and 
it engages their sympathies still. And, what is infi¬ 
nitely more, it enjoys the intercession of the Great 
Advocate himself. Is the influence of the Holy Spirit 
essential to Missionary success ? Drops of the coming 
shower have already fallen ; and still the cloud enlarges 
and descends, and gives signs of the impending blessing. 
Is it necessary that infinite faithfulness and power 
should show themselves interested in it in order to 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


325 


assure us of its success ? All power in heaven and in 
earth is given to Christ to render the success of his 
Gospel certain. The present evangelical economy ex¬ 
ists for it. All the machinery of providence is con¬ 
structed to advance it. The world itself is maintained 
only as the theatre for its progress. Nature, provi¬ 
dence, and grace, are not three independent departments 
of the Divine government. They are only concentric 
circles revolving around one centre—the Cross of Christ. 
For the diffusion of its influence Christ himself reigns, 
.and harmonizes and administers all their revolutions. 
To this object, nothing within the vast circumference 
of his government is indifferent. Nothing is too great 
to serve it, or too minute to promote it. Nothing 
opposed to it is allowed to triumph ; nothing friendly 
to it can fail to yield its mite of auxiliary influence. 
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is allowed to quit the stage 
of activity, without leaving behind some tribute to its 
claims. 

And are these our encouragements to prosecute the 
Missionary enterprise ? What else means the mediato¬ 
rial sovereign by associating the command to proclaim 
his Gospel, with the announcement that all power is his ? 
What else means the sublime declaration that all things 
are by him, and for him ? What else mean the con¬ 
spicuous and undeniable facts that only two or three 
thrones of paganism are left ; that a hand mighter than 
Samson’s should be laid upon these ; that the Gospel, 
after surviving a thousand conflicts, should be seen ex¬ 
hibiting the vigour and activity of its youth ? and that 
the Church, in awaking to its diffusion should have 
opened a new source of internal happiness and prosperity 
for itself ? 

Are these our encouragements to expect success ? 
Then u be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord ; for he 
is raised up out of his holy habitation.” Be hushed the 
language of complaint and unbelief; be silenced the 
taunts of infidelity, inquiring, Where is the promise of 
his coming ? be stilled the din of opposition to the pro- 

28 


326 


ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROSECUTE, ETC. 


gress of his cause, and the shouts of frantic superstition 
in every idolatrous temple. Then, u the idols he will 
utterly abolish.” Kalee, Vishnu, Juggernaut, your 
shrines are doomed, your days are numbered, your end 
draweth nigh. Then it is the voice of him that crieth 
in the wilderness which we hear— u Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for 
our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
mountain and hill shall be made low ; and the crooked 
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and 
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh 
shall see it together.” Islands of the sea, ye shall not 
wait in vain for his law. Africa, there is hope in thine 
end; the hands of all thy children shall soon be stretch¬ 
ed out to God. All thy myriads, India, shall rejoice 
in a true incarnation, u God manifest in the flesh.” 
And China, thy only walls shall be salvation, and all 
thy gates praise. All for which the Saviour endured 
the cross, despising the shame, all for which the past 
has been preparing, and which the present is needing 
and desiring—all shall be accomplished. u The great 
trumpet” has been blown ; its reverberations of mercy 
roll round the earth, and the world shall hear it and 
live. 

And are these our encouragements to proceed ? Then 
our course is obvious, our duty clear. At the most 
dim and distant prospect of such scenes the ancient 
prophets were rapt into an ecstacy of delight. With 
encouragements incomparably less than we possess, an 
apostle was inspired with a confidence of success which 
nothing could dismay, and with an ardour of activity 
which nothing could quench. For us then to decline 
the Missionary cause, or to look coldly on its progress, 
is to merit the execration of the world we are neglecting, 
and of the Church we are refusing to assist. But scrip- 
turally to aid it, is to place ourselves in harmony with 
all the purposes of God, and to hasten the recovery of 
the world to Christ. 


PART IV. 


OBJECTIONS TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE, OR 
PLEAS AND EXCUSES FOR NEGLECTING IT. ' 


So obvious are the obligations of the Missionary Enter¬ 
prise, and the encouragements to discharge them so 
numerous and strong, that, if facts did not loudly pro¬ 
claim the contrary, we might well believe it impossible 
for a single objection to be raised against it. We know, 
however, that no degree of excellence, even when ac¬ 
credited from Heaven, has ever proved sufficient to ex¬ 
empt a cause entirely from opposition ; and that its suc¬ 
cess, whether great or little, has never been owing to 
any lack of difficulties feared by its professed friends, 
or created by its avowed foes. Indeed, the loftier its 
aims, and the greater the spirituality of its character and 
claims, the more numerous the obstacles likely to be cast 
in the way of its progress. The Missionary cause, then, 
by aiming at the most unworldly ends, and by taking the 
whole earth for the sphere of its activity, may be ex¬ 
pected to exasperate every form of irreligious hostility, 
and to be encountered by every kind of objection. 
And when it is remembered that the ignorant are al¬ 
ways ready to accept such objections, however futile, 
as so many unanswerable arguments against it ; that the 
indolent are glad to construe them into a full discharge 



328 


OBJECTIONS TO 


from all activity in its behalf; that the timid are for 
waiting until they are all silenced, and the ground com¬ 
pletely cleared of difficulties ; and that, however olten 
they have been met already, error is likely to revive and 
repeat them again with the lips of each succeeding gene¬ 
ration, it is by no means supererogatory or unimportant 
that such objections should be obviated again ; especially, 
too, when nearly all of them may be so easily converted 
into arguments for serving the very object they were 
intended to weaken or destroy. 

I. Now, if we propose to notice these objections* 
in order, the first, perhaps, which demands our attention 
is that which would represent the Missionary Enterprise 
as unnecessary. According to the objector,—The 
heathen are compartively safe already ; their ignorance 
of the Gospel is involuntary ; they are a law unto them¬ 
selves ; they will not be judged by the high require¬ 
ments of the Bible, but by the light of nature ; their 
eternal destiny, therefore, is far from hopeless ; and to 
pronounce it otherwise is uncharitable and cruel. 

To this representation we should object, 1. That it 
overlooks the true condition of mankind in relation to 
the moral government of God. It forgets the moment¬ 
ous truth that “all have sinned,” and are condemned 
already. 2. It makes the salvation of the heathen a 
question of right and justice. It supposes that by saving 
those who believe the Gospel, the Almighty has brought 
himself under a kind of obligation to throw open tlie 
gates of heaven to the whole mass of the heathen 
world. 3. And it virtually constitutes idolatrous igno¬ 
rance a better security for the future happiness of 
mankind, than is afforded by the means of grace en¬ 
joyed under the Gospel. 

The question is not, be it remarked, whether or not 

* Some of these objections are very ably met in a work entitled, 
,f The Missionary Convention at Jerusalem ; or, an Exhibition of the 
Claims of the World to the Gospel. By the Rev. David Abeel, Mis¬ 
sionary to China.” 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


329 


in consequence of the mediation of Christ the heathen 
are in a salvable state ? This we not only joyfully 
admit, but are prepared, if necessary, earnestly to con¬ 
tend for. But this fact only proves their present con¬ 
dition to be more fearful than if no such salvability 
existed ; for it shows they are the subjects of moral 
government, and as such exposed to punishment for 
disobedience. Nor is the question whether many, but 
whether any of the heathen are saved. For we presume 
that the objector himself does not suppose that any 
large proportion among them are rescued from destruc¬ 
tion ; that he is not even prepared to prove that any 
of them will certainly be saved. And where, we ask, 
is the charity of abandoning them all to a vague hope 
of deliverance ? or what is gained by the admission that 
one here and there is possibly saved ? This single 
ray leaves the nations sitting in the darkness of de¬ 
struction still. The true question is, are the heathens 
as a whole, idolatrous and immoral as they are, spi¬ 
ritually safe ? Every part of the word of God—the 
only authority competent to reply—affirms that they are 
not. 

For, first , they are condemned by the light of nature. 
They will not be condemned for the infraction of a 
law of which they never heard ; nor for the rejection 
of a Saviour who was never proclaimed to them. The 
ground of their condemnation will be, that they loved 
darkness rather than the dim light of reason, conscience, 
and tradition, which they enjoyed; that bad as their 
creed was, their character was worse; that single as 
their talent was, and on that account all the more 
precious, they hid even that in the earth, u so that they 
are without excuse.” 

Secondly , The word of God confirms the sentence of 
their condemnation. Although the heathen of the 
present day are involuntarily ignorant of the sacred 
Scriptures, never having heard of their existence, yet 
as the first act of idolatrous worship in every nation 
must have been perpetrated in defiance of every thing 

28* 


330 


OBJECTIONS TO 


sacred; and as the descendants of those idolaters evince 
as strong a dislike to recover the knowledge of God 
as they themselves did to retain it, not only neglecting 
to avail themselves of “ that which may be known of 
God,” but entailing their idolatry from generation to 
generation with accumulated abominations; they are 
divinely pronounced to be inexcusable. The opening 
of the Epistle to the Romans is devoted directly to 
the establishment of this solemn fact. Having affirmed 
that “ the Gentiles who have not the [revealed] law, 
are a law unto themselves,” the apostle convicts them 
of the grossest violations of that unwritten law ; and 
draws the solemn conclusion that they who have thus 
“ sinned without [the revealed] law, shall also perish 
without law.” 

Nor, thirdly , does the Gospel afford us any ground 
to hope that the sentence of their condemnation will 
be reversed through the mediation of Christ. That 
faith in the mediation of Christ is indispensable to the 
personal salvation of those to whom the Gospel has 
been proclaimed, will be generally admitted. But 
when the apostle inquires concerning the heathen, 
“how shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ?” 
if there be meaning in language, he obviously intends 
that it is as impossible for a heathen to be saved by 
Christ without believing in him, as it is for him to hear 
of Christ without a preacher. 

But salvation includes the renewal of the heart by 
the agency of the Holy Spirit, as well as the remission 
of sins through faith in Christ. Now that this spiritual 
change is indispensable to the salvation of all to whom 
the Gospel comes, and that the truth is the instrument 
by which it is effected, will also be generally admitted. 
But when we hear it divinely declared to the great 
apostle of the Gentiles, that the object of his Mission 
was “to open their eyes, and to turn them from dark¬ 
ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God 
what can we infer but that a spiritual renovation is 


i 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


331 


essential to their recovery, and that the instrumentality 
of the Gospel is essential to that renovation ? To such 
as would argue against these conclusions, from the pro¬ 
bable salvation of the offspring of heathen dying in 
infancy, vve need only say, you are arguing from the 
case of those who have no actual sin, to those who are 
covered with the guilt of personal transgressions ; from 
those who can neither sin nor believe, to those who 
have the capability of both ; by a very slight extension 
of your argument, therefore, you may proceed to infer 
that as those dying in infancy are probably saved 
through Christ without exercising faith in him, all are 
probably saved by him, though in the same destitution 
of faith. 

But, fourthly , we cannot be adequately impressed 
with the danger of the heathen, unless we remember 
that their idolatrous condition is never represented in 
Scripture as a palliation of their guilt, but as consti¬ 
tuting its vilest element. In speaking of its origin, 
it is there traced to two sources : “because they did 
not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them 
up to vile affections.” Here, a hatred for the truth 
combines with an act of judicial dereliction, to seal 
their doom; for if the former adds the last shade to 
their guilt, the latter entirely extinguishes the hope of 
their deliverance. 

And hence, fifthly, the Divine punishment of idolatry 
has frequently commenced in the present life. The 
Jewish dispensation was one perpetual protest against 
it. Whole nations of idolaters were exterminated to 
make way for the worshippers of the one living and 
true God. Almost the only thing against which u the 
wrath of God was revealed from heaven” for ages was 
idolatry, and its immediate fruits. In the punishment 
of these, the great cities, thrones, and nations of anti¬ 
quity, were involved in a common ruin. 

But, sixthly , if we have recourse to the word of 
God for direct statements on the subject, the answer 
of the living oracle is strictly corroborative of our worst 


332 


OBJECTIONS TO 


fears: “ the whole world,” saith St. John, u lieth in 
wickedness.” A people destitute of Divine revelation 
are spoken of as “ having no hope, and without God 
in the world.” If we ask of their future state, we are 
told that u idolaters” are adjudged to u the second 
death,” and that the lc nations who forget God are 
turned into hell.” And how truly affecting to find that 
this fearful view receives an appalling confirmation in 
the fears and distressing convictions of the converted 
heathen themselves, concerning those of their relatives 
who have died in heathenism. Strongly predisposed as 
we may well imagine them to be, to hope the best 
of their eternal state, they are free to confess that, 
taking the Bible for their guide, they can see no escape 
from the dreadful conclusion that every impenitent 
idolater is lost. And from this harrowing consideration 
they derive a strong ground for upbraiding us that we 
did not earlier send them the Gospel, and for an earnest 
appeal that we would now redeem the time by re¬ 
doubling our efforts for its universal diffusion. Away 
then with the false philanthropy which indolently and 
charitably abandons the everlasting happiness of mil¬ 
lions to a mere peradventure. Let ours be the only 
scriptural and consistent charity, which, while it fears 
the worst, aims at the best ; and while it dreads their 
destruction, labours to the utmost for their salvation. 
By this method, at least, we cannot injure them ; by 
any other, we may be probably leaving them to hope¬ 
less destruction. 

II. Another class of objectors are inclined to regard 
the Missionary enterprise as impracticable. They en¬ 
tertain a vague opinion, the grounds and merits of which 
they have never examined, that heathenism is a system 
too old to be altered, too deep-seated to be subverted, 
and too vast to be materially reduced. And hence they 
are apt to fortify this objection by the addition of 
another—that little or no good has been hitherto accom¬ 
plished by Missionary efforts, and that some stations 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


333 


have been actually deserted by the Missionaries, through 
want of success, or the fierceness of heathen opposition. 

Now we might justifiably satisfy ourselves by bring¬ 
ing this objection under tiie neutralizing influence of 
the preceding, and asking, how the view that the 
heathen are so good as to be in little danger of de¬ 
struction, is to be reconciled with the opposite assump¬ 
tion that they are so bad as to defy all means human 
and divine for their moral improvement ? But we do 
think it enough to refer the objector to the second 
Part of this Essay, on Missionary successes, as con¬ 
taining a full reply to his opinion that but little benefit 
has hitherto resulted from Christian Missions ; and to the 
third Part, on Missionary Encouragements, in answer 
to his objection on the impracticability of the work. 

As to any difficulty which he might feel arising from 
the occasional reverses and partial failures of the Mis¬ 
sionary enterprise, we would remind him, first , that 
temporary reverses are not peculiar to the diffusion of 
the Gospel ; that science has sustained them, and yet 
ultimately triumphed ; that an Alexander encountered 
them, and yet became the conqueror of the world; 
that from many of our present colonies, the British 
arms have more than once been beaten off, and com¬ 
pelled for a time to retire, but have finally gained their 
object ; that even where our hopes have been most dis¬ 
appointed, and are at this moment at the lowest point, 
our prospects are such that, were our object military 
conquest or national aggrandizement instead of Chris¬ 
tian usefulness, we could not entirely relinquish our 
attempts without incurring the charge of cowardice or 
treason ; and on what principle are we to expect im¬ 
munity from similar trials, or to construe them into a 
sign of certain and universal defeat ? 

We would remind him, secondly , that such reverses 
are not attending the diffusion of the Gospel now for 
the first time; that its plantation in our own country 
was not the work of a day, nor effected without the 
endurance of persecution and death; that the apostles 


334 


OBJECTIONS TO 


themselves were often driven from city to city, and 
that we have no right to expect exemption from similar 
vicissitudes. 

But, thirdly , we have reason to believe that, owing 
to a change of circumstances, the instances of Mis¬ 
sionary stations once occupied but now deserted, are 
incomparably fewer than similar reverses were in pri¬ 
mitive times; that if these few instances were exa¬ 
mined, it would be found that the majority of desertions 
had arisen from the opposition, not of heathen, but 
of nominally Christian governments—and that such 
opposition from this quarter is gradually ceasing to 
exist. 

Fourthly , we have to remind him that such failures 
so far from being final, have commonly been followed 
by the most signal successes; that, as in primitive 
times, the “bonds” of the apostle “turned out rather 
for the furtherance of the Gospel,” so in the history 
of modern Missions, the scene of our greatest dis¬ 
couragement and disaster, has often become the scene 
of our most grateful triumph. The Caffre tribes which 
formerly came down on the Missionary community in 
marauding bands, approach it now only to invoke the 
instructions of a Christian teacher. Where once the 
Missionary was prevented from landing, the New Zea¬ 
land chief has since been seen heading hundreds of 
natives to honour and welcome his arrival. And in 
the Sandwich, Tahiti, and Society Islands ; in the 
Hervey, Navigators, Friendly, Austral, Paumatu, Gam- 
bier, Marquesan, and other groupes, where once the 
Christian preacher dared not approach, or fled with 
unconcealed terror, are now to be found exemplary 
Christian churches, and societies for sending native 
Missionaries into the regions beyond. 

Let the objector remember, next , that even if the 
Missionary enterprise had been attended with no direct 
benefits whatever abroad, its reflex influence on the 
state of piety at home has been most amply remunera¬ 
tive ; so that even if the salvation of our own coun- 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


335 


trymen were our exclusive duty, we could not think 
of limiting the Gospel to our native land; if we were 
at full liberty to seek the welfare only of our own 
people, in order to attain that end in the shortest time, 
and in the highest degree, we should feel bound to 
obtain the re-acting influence of Christian Missions. 

But finally , we have to remind him, that eminently 
useful as their legitimate reaction has been on the state 
of religion at home, there is reason to believe that a 
greater number of conversions has taken place in hea¬ 
then lands, in proportion to the amount of means em¬ 
ployed, than has been effected in the same time in 
Christendom. So that, unless the objector is prepared 
to arrest and destroy all the Christian instrumentality 
now in operation at home on the plea of inutility, con¬ 
sistency requires that he should advocate the continuance 
and encouragement of the same instrumentality, on the 
ground of its usefulness abroad. 

III. Having yielded to the preceding reasons, the 
objector may allege, further, that “if the conversion of 
the heathen must needs be attempted, philosophy and 
learning must, in the nature of things, take the prece¬ 
dence. Indeed, it should seem hardly less absurd to 
make revelation precede civilization in the order of time, 
than to pretend to unfold to a child the Principia of 
Newton, before he is made acquainted with the letters 
of the alphabet.” This, be it remarked, is not an ob¬ 
jection imagined for the occasion, but the veritable lan¬ 
guage of one who was literally applauded by thousands 
for uttering it, and whose words doubtless echoed the 
thoughts of thousands more. Indeed, at the commence¬ 
ment of modern Missions, the opinion very generally 
prevailed among the friends of Missions themselves, that, 
in barbarous lands, civilization must pioneer the way for 
Christianity, but, on this important condition, that the 
Christian Missionary himself should be the pioneer; 
while the class of objectors in question, would have 
him to remain at home till his way is prepared by philo¬ 
sophy and science. 


336 


OBJECTIONS TO 


1. Now conceding to the objector the credit of being 
himself a philosopher, we might begin our remarks by 
inquiring, Do you not know that philosophy has not 
yet decided whether the most perfect state of man be 
not the least civilized ? And lest you should suppose 
that such a question was peculiar only to the dreaming 
school of Rousseau, we have further to remind you that 
travellers and historians are still found describing the 
life of the savage with so much rapture as to compel the 
belief that they would fain propose it as a model to the 
rest of the species ; and so copiously applying to that 
state the epithets, u simple,” u virtuous,” and “happy,” 
as to awaken the inquiry, whether it would not be wiser 
to employ Missionaries for restoring the civilized to 
barbarism, rather than for raising the barbarous to 
civilization ? 

2. We will suppose, however, that all men pretending 
to philosophy have arrived at the philanthropic conclu¬ 
sion that the savage tribes of the earth should, if prac¬ 
ticable, be civilized. Rut here we have next to ask 
the objector, Are you not aware that the almost unani¬ 
mous conclusion to which your order has arrived is, that 
those tribes are utterly irreclaimable ? Nearly tw 7 o 
centuries elapsed, for instance, after the discovery of 
America, before its inhabitants attracted the attention 
of philosophers. And when they did, it was only to be 
described by one as “ a race just called into existence, 
and still at the beginning of their career;”* and, by 
another, as “ animals of inferior order, incapable of 
acquring religious knowledge, or of being trained to 
the functions of social life *”f And do you not know 
that this representation of the natural inferiority of 
uncivilized man became so prevalent in the class of 
philosophic writings referred to, that had the writers 
been constituted a committee on the subject, they 
could not have u brought up” a more consistent report? 

* M. de BufTon, Hist. Nat. iii. 484, tec., ix. 114. 

f M. de P. Rechevches Philos, sur les Araeric. passim. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


337 


Do yon not know that the consequent belief of this 
inferiority became so popular, that the public inind is 
yet far from being disabused of it ? but that as far as 
it has been disabused, Christian Missionaries have been 
mainly instrumental in dislodging the error by develop¬ 
ing the intellectual and moral capacities of the traduced 
aborigines, through the medium of religion ? 

3. Now it must be allowed that to report a people 
irrecoverably brutish, is a strange and ominous com¬ 
mencement of their civilization. For, u having classed 
their fellow-creatures among the wild beasts of the 
forest, these claimants to the exclusive title of human 
beings are likely to find little difficulty in defending, at 
least to their own satisfaction, whatever measures may 
be necessary for the subjugation or destruction of the 
common enemy.” Accordingly, we have next to remind 
the objector, that with singular unanimity they have 
decreed that untutored man must be destroyed. Yes, 
the very men who would scout the idea of the Christian 
Missionary attempting to benefit the savage before they 
have visited him with their grand specific of civilization, 
have yet banded together, in effect, for his destruction. 
ct Nothing but powder and ball,” said an European 
officer, “ can civilize these savages ;” the tribes to which 
he referred, have since been both civilized and evan¬ 
gelized, by the Divine blessing on Missionary endea¬ 
vours. u Do you think it possible,” said Sir Rufane 
Shaw Donkin to Doctor Philip, in the Committee of the 
House of Commons, u to prevent enlightened Europeans 
who settle in a country, from ultimately exterminating 
the unenlightened inhabitants ?” from which we must 
infer that the certainty of the destruction of a barbarous 
tribe is in exact proportion to the advanced enlighten¬ 
ment of the colonists. 

In a proclamation issued bv Sir B. D’Urban, the 
Caffres are denounced as u irreclaimable savages ;” and 
this in the verv face of the fact, as stated in the De- 

V 

* Lord Cleiiclg-s Dcspaicii lo Governor Sir B. D'Urban. 


338 


OBJECTIONS TO 


spatch of Lord Glenelg, that u under the guidance of 
their Christian ministers they have built places of public 
worship ; have erected school-houses, and sent their 
children thither for instruction ; have made no incon¬ 
siderable advance in agriculture and in commerce ; have 
established a trade amounting to not less than £30,000 
per annum in the purchase of European commodities; 
and when as many as two hundred British traders were 
living far beyond the boundaries of the colony, protected 
only by the integrity and humanity of the uncivilized 
natives.” And yet it is of this same people that we 
read in a volume just issued from the press, that u it 
furnishes matter of amazement to every thinking person, 
how those who have legislated for the affairs of the 
colony should not long ago have seen the imperious 
necessity, dictated alike by reason, justice, and humanity , 
of exterminating from off the face of the earth such a 
race of monsters.”* u The uncivilized must give way 
to the civilized,” says the editor of the journal of the 
Royal Geographical Society, cc and better sooner than 
late.”f But, for the full exposition of this exterminat¬ 
ing philosophy, we must refer to the following passage in 
Sir John Ross’s Second Voyage to the Arctic Regions ; 
u Our brandy was as odious as our pudding to our 
Esquimaux visitors, and they have yet therefore to 
acquire the taste which has, in ruining the morals, 
hastened the extermination of their American neigh¬ 
bours to the Southward. If, however, these tribes must 
finally disappear, as seems their fate, it is at least better 
that they should die gradually by the force of rum, than 
that they should be exterminated in masses by the fire 
and sword of the Spanish conquest, since there is some 
pleasure, such as it is, in the mean time, while there is 
also a voluntary but slow suicide in exchange for murder 
and robbery. Is it not the fate of the savage and the 
uncivilized on this earth to give way to the more cun- 

* Narrative of an Expedition into Southern Africa, &c., by Capt. 
W. C. Harris. 

f Vol. v. pt. ii. 1835. p. 315. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


339 


ning and the better informed, to knowledge and civili¬ 
zation ? It is the order of the world, and the right one ; 
nor will all the lamentations of a mawkish philanthropy, 
with its more absurd or censurable efforts, avail one jot 
against an order of things as wise as it is assuredly 
established. ” # 

4. But next we have to remind the objector that those 
who should have been the advocates and agents of 
civilization, having concluded, to their own satisfaction, 
that the uncivilized must be destroyed, have destroyed 
them accordingly. u An uncivilized people,” says Nie¬ 
buhr, “has never derived benefit from contact with a 
civilized race.” So uniformly has the extirpation of 
the former followed the arrival of the latter, that, as 
we have seen in the preceding paragraph, a theory 
has been formed to account for and justify the wide 
spreading calamity. Man has impiously appealed to 
the purposes of God in vindication of his own attrocities. 
The ordination of Divine Providence—a providence 
ever just and kind—has been represented as obtaining 
its fulfilment in the erection of an altar to Moloch at 
which millions of human victims have bled. And here, 
let it be observed, we are not speaking of days long 
gone by—of the Red Cross Knights of Mexican and 
Peruvian butcheries—but of the deeds of to-day; of 
the last new creed of philosophy on the subject of civi¬ 
lization ; of the principle just evolved by the spirit of 
the times from an induction of multiplied facts, as the 
only principle to be relied on and embodied in practice ; 
—and this is it— the uncivilized world must be blotted 
out. 

5. Next, we have to show the objector, that where 
the civilization which has hitherto attended the progress 
of our arms, commerce, and colonization, has not ex¬ 
terminated a people, so far from preparing them for 
the reception of Christianity it has proved the greatest 
obstacle to its introduction. And how could it be 


* Narrative, &cc. ; voL i. p. 257. 


340 


OBJECTIONS TO 


otherwise? For what have the means of such civiliza¬ 
tion been, but the overflowing of our national depravity, 
and the exercise of injustice and oppression ? Philoso¬ 
phy has prepared the way for the demons of avarice, 
cruelty, and licentiousness, by proclaiming the hopeless 
brutalization of savage tribes. A civilized legislation 
has transferred whole regions to colonists—transferred 
those regions from under the feet of the aboriginal 
inhabitants without rendering them an atom of com¬ 
pensation. A legalized commerce has for ages devoted 
one quarter of the globe to a market for human flesh. 
And, in its considerate regard for the welfare of the 
native tribes, one of the first buildings which a Chris¬ 
tian government has erected in some of its colonies has 
been a gaol for the reception of the superabundant 
depravity of home; and one of the first colonies which 
it has planted has been a colony of convicts. About 
two thousand runaway sailors and convicts are at large 
in New Zealand and the adjacent islands alone, carry¬ 
ing demoralization and ruin wherever they come. And 
again philosophy steps in with her timely aid ; and, 
lest the work of destruction should proceed too slowly, 
announces the crowning and seasonable discovery, that 
such destruction is perfectly in harmony with the plans 
of Heaven. 

Are we to wonder that, influenced by such examples, 
and in obedience to such doctrines, the civilived savage 
should have degraded the uncivilized savage from a brute 
into a demon, making him twofold more the child of hell 
than before ; that he should have introduced among the 
natives European vices, violently seized their women, 
taught the horrid traffic of licentiousness, and intro¬ 
duced a train of new diseases and frightful evils too 
revolting to meet the public eye ?* that he should 
have forcibly seized their lands, plentifully supplied 
them with ardent spirits, excited quarrels among the 

* So revolting, that in the “ Evidence on the Aborigines” it is 
necessarily omitted,—see po. 20, 23. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


341 


different tribes, and then furnished them with arms for 
the purpose of mutual destruction ? and that the direct 
effect of all this should be to prevent the progress of 
education and religion ?* Are we to wonder that the 
only question of colonial policy with many of the 
colonists themselves has come to be simply this, whether 
the natives should be destroyed slowly or speedily—by 
the gun, or by drunkenness and disease ? Are we to be 
surprised at finding that they themselves have come to 
stand in much greater need of the restraints of law than 
even the natives ; that while these only need the Christian 
Missionary, those require both the Missionary and 
u the supervision of an efficient police ?”f Or that 
a society should have at length arisen for the protection 
of those aboriginal victims of civilization ? Are w 7 e 
to wonder that one Missionary should be heard depre¬ 
cating the influence of such civilization on the natives ? 
that another should declare, “I had ten times rather 
meet them in their savage state than after they have 
had intercourse with Europeansand that all should 
unite in deploring the effect of such intercourse, as 
amongst the greatest obstacles to success which they 
are called to encounter And can we be astonished 
to find the prejudiced, injured, and demoralized native 
turning away, and spurning the cup of salvation, because 
it is proffered to him by a Christian hand ? 

6. Advancing a step farther, we would show the ob¬ 
jector, next, that instead of civilization being necessary 
to prepare the way for Christianity, Christianity is 
indispensable to a true civilization. When we speak of 
a true civilization, we mean to imply that a spurious 
and superficial state of social advancement—in which 
houses are built instead of wigwams, the clothing of 
the loins extended over the body, and the work of con¬ 
quest and human butchery is conducted scientifically— 
may obtain independently of religion. But if by civi- 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 20, 23, passim. 

f Idem, p. 63. % Idem, pp. 27, 173, 277. 


29* 


342 


OBJECTIONS TO 


lization we understand a state in which the rights of 
men are respected, and the proprieties and charities 
of life are cultivated, we are prepared to show that 
it has never been found but as the inseparable com¬ 
panion and effect of Divine Christianity. For, first, 
admitting that barbarous tribes could be reclaimed with¬ 
out the intervention of Christian Missionaries, “the 
mere civilizing plan does not furnish motives strong 
enough to induce men to give up the comforts of home 
merely to teach them civilization.” Hence when Dr. 
Coke, about forty years ago, was induced to form a 
plan for civilizing the Foulahs of Western Africa, 
preparatory to the introduction of the Gospel—a plan 
patronized by Mr. Wilberforce, and other leading men 
of the day—it failed entirely, “and failed for this very 
reason, that the agents [mechanics] engaged to carry 
the scheme into effect, did not find sufficient motives to 
induce them to persevere. On reaching Sierra Leone 
their courage failed them.” But Christianity could find 
agents for that very sphere—has found them ; and the 
result is that religion and civilization are advancing 
among the Foulahs hand in hand.* 

Nor, secondly, does civilization furnish motives suffi¬ 
ciently powerful to induce the heathen to be taught. 
“ The fruit ripens,” they say, “and the pigs get fat 
while we are asleep, and that is all we want; why, there¬ 
fore, should we work ?” In vain did the governor of 
Upper Canada repeat his attempts to induce the Cliip- 
peways to renounce their wandering life, and to attend 
to civilized pursuits. “Who knows,” said they, “but 
the Munedoos (gods) would be angry with us for aban¬ 
doning our own ways;” and the homes which he had 
kindly built for them remained unoccupied—monu¬ 
ments of the impotence of civilization without religion. 
The apparent tameness of civilized life possesses no 
attractions sufficiently strong to induce the barbarian 
to abandon his roving habits, and to encounter the 


* Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 124, 125, 129, 338. 


T^G i\i •S'j'.Oa ' IV ".‘GPGTrG. 


343 


anger of liis gods for its sake. Suck is the explana¬ 
tion of the fact furnished by the barbarian himself 
when reclaimed by the influence of the Gospel. And 
consequently so uniform and complete has been the 
failure of the mere civilizing plan, that many intelligent 
Americans have been led to adopt the conclusion that 
the aborigines are utterly incapable of being reclaimed, 
and must be banished from the neighbourhood of the 
white population.* 

But thirdly, if these difficulties were surmounted, 
the civilization of the heathen would not predispose 
them to the reception of the Gospel. That part of 
our nature which religion especially addresses would 
still be left unimproved. And hence India and China 
are not found to receive the Gospel the more readily 
for the fact that they have been for ages in a state of 
semi-civilization. The plan which the Society of 
Friends adopted in their early intercourse with the 
Indians was, to attempt civilization first. This plan 
they have steadily pursued for years, for ages, at a 
considerable annual expense. And what is the result 
of this long and costly experiment? u Within the 
last few years,” says one of the members of the com¬ 
mittee for conducting it, “we have had occasion to 
review 7 the whole course of proceedings, and we have 
come to the conclusion, from a deliberate view of the 
past, that we erred, sorrowfully erred, in the plan which 
was originally adopted in making civilization the first 
object ; for we cannot count on a single individual 
that we have brought to the full adoption of Chris¬ 
tianity. ”f 

And, then, fourthly, while we are not aware of a 
single instance in which civilization has prepared the 
w T ay for Christianity, facts innumerable might be added 
to those already adduced, to show that it has had a 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 126, 127, 142, 143, 154, 178, 
294, 337. 

f Idem, p. 187—197. 


344 


OBJECTIONS TO 


contrary effect. Why is it that the most savage tribes 
are more easily brought under the influence of the 
Gospel, than the partially civilized nations of China 
and India ? Which of the Indian nations offered the 
most obdurate resistance to the Gospel, but the Mo¬ 
hawks of upper Canada, who, through the kindness 
of his majesty, had enjoyed the educational and civi¬ 
lizing process for forty years ? Their proverbial aban¬ 
donment to vice was often urged by their ignorant 
heathen neighbours as an objection against the Christian 
religion itself.* And the reason why the influence 
of civilization is thus unfriendly to religion is obvious. 
u Man,” says an eloquent writer, “ may master nature 
to become in turn its slave. Civilization, so far from 
being able of itself to give moral strength and elevation, 
includes causes of degradation, which nothing but the 
religious principle can withstand.” It multiplies the 
desires and passions of the heart, without any increase 
of power to the regulating principles ; and thus only 
adds to the length of the lever by which vice subverts 
both our moral constitution, and the fabric of society. 
Reason and experience forbid us to expect, said Wash¬ 
ington on resigning the presidency in 1796, that mo¬ 
rality or political prosperity, can prevail in exclusion 
of religious principles. And in 1802, the French Re¬ 
public were constrained to confess, u For want of a 
religious education for the last ten years, our children 
are without any idea of a Divinity, without any notion 
of what is just or unjust : hence arise barbarous man¬ 
ners, hence a people become ferocious.” 

7. We have to show the objector, further, that 
wdierever Christianity and civilization have presented 
themselves before a heathen tribe in company, the 
former has been invariably embraced before the latter. 
Now this fact, we should suppose, ought to be con¬ 
clusive. The plan of Missionary proceeding which 
wisdom and experience sanction is, not to act as if 

# Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 133, 134. 


THE MISaCOiYAiljr ENTBUPfUsE. 


345 


a savage tribe would be civilized by merely preach¬ 
ing to them the doctrines of the Gospel—this would 
be only the opposite error of those who imagine that 
rude people may be civilized without the influence of 
religion ; but to act on the principle that, while Chris¬ 
tianity alone can excite in them a desire for im¬ 
provement, nothing should be omitted of a civilizing 
nature likely to subserve that desire. For from the 
moment that the Christian principle begins io operate 
upon the mind of man, from that moment the wants 
and cravings of civilization begin and advance. And, 
we repeat, that wherever, in harmony witli these 
views, Christianity and civilization have thus laboured 
among a barbarous people conjointly, the former has 
been invariably embraced first. Ffteen years of effort 
were made by the Missionaries in the South Sea 
Islands, to introduce the arts of civilized life with 
instruction in the truths of the Christian religion—but 
apparently in vain. At the end of that time, Chris¬ 
tianity was adopted by the people, and from that mo¬ 
ment their civilization commenced. ■ Another fifteen 
years of missionary effort were occupied in New Zealand 
in a similar manner, and apparently without effect; 
but the u very moment that Christianity established itself 
in only one instance in the island, from that moment 
civilization commenced, and has been going on hand in 
hand with Christianity, but never preceded it. 

S. And, finally, let the objector know, that wherever 
Christianity has gained a fooling, civilization has in¬ 
variably followed. The first house which the barbarian 
builds, is commonly a house of God. In vain did 
government erect habitations for the Chippeways in 
order to allure them to the habits of civilized life; but 
no sooner did the Gospel affect them than they applied 
to the Governor for that very aid which they had before 
rejected : this was afforded, and they settled on the 

* Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 176, 177. 

f Idem, p. 250. 


34G 


OBJECTIONS TO 


river Credit. In vain were the influences of civilization 
showered on the Mohawks ; the only effect was increased 
demoralization. But no sooner did they begin to em¬ 
brace the Christian faith, than “each appeared to vie 
with the rest which should give the strongest proofs of 
industrious habits.The same mere civilizing process 
has been tried on the Wyandot Indians and the Che- 
rokees, and with the same comparative failure; but 
“ the Missionary has marched up to the savage heart, 
adapted his mode of instruction to the condition of the 
Indian, and his conversion to Christianity has followed. 
This accomplished, he has been easily brought by gentle 
steps to walk in the path of civilization.”f Evidence 
to the same effect might easily be adduced from the 
history of Christian Missions among the West Indian 
negroes, the remains of the Charib race, the various 
tribes of West and Southern Africa, the Hindoos of 
India, the Budhists of Ceylon, the cannibals of New 
Zealand, and the other islanders of the South Sea.J 
The Missions of every denomination of Protestants, 
says Bannister in his “ British Colonization”—those of 
the Church of England, the Moravians, the Independ¬ 
ents, the Baptists, the Wesleyans, the Scottish—all 
present animated spectacles of workshops, farms, and 
school-houses thickening around their churches and 
chapels ; and the occupations of merely civilized men, 
carried on with vigour and success, hand in hand with 
Christian duties, by tens of thousands whose fathers, 
and often themselves, were lately naked and house¬ 
less, and possessionless barbarians.§ While they are 
under the influence of their superstitions they evince 
an inanity and torpor, from which no stimulus has 
proved powerful enough to arouse them, but the new 
ideas and principles imparted by Christianity. And if 
facts can convince—if the question is to be decided by 
evidence—the objector is bound to receive it as an ad- 

# Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 142. 

f Idem, pp. 146—153. 

% Idem, pp. 132, 166, 174, 250. 


$ P. 174. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


347 


judged case, that the Missionary enterprise is incom¬ 
parably the most effective machinery that has ever been 
brought to operate on the social and civil, as well as 
on the moral and spiritual interests of mankind.* 

IV. Convinced that Christianity is the great agent of 
civilization, an objector may yet allege in excuse for not 
assisting to send it abroad, that we have heathen enough 
at home; that charity begins at home, and that we must 
evangelize home first. These are pleas, which, by 
wearing the appearance of a pious patriotism, often 
beguile the sympathies of the unreflecting, and tend to 
foster a spirit of indolence in the cause of God, whose 
exposure should be its utter condemnation. Let us 
first endeavour to exhibit their hollowness, and then 
specify certain principles by which they are to be met, 
and the truth defended. 

“ We have heathen of our own at home,” you say, 
by which we are to suppose that you intend persons who 
are very ignorant and very vicious. But if such persons 
are existing around you in any considerable number, 
does not the fact implicate you in the tremendous guilt 
of having neglected them ? And will you plead that 
which results from your own sinful omission of duty 
towards those thousands, as an excuse for neglecting a 
similar duty towards as many millions ? But in extenu¬ 
ation of your conduct towards your irreligious neigh¬ 
bours, you probably plead that they have been far from 
entirely neglected ; that the knowledge and means of 
religion have been within their reach from infancy. 
From which we learn, on your own admission, that they 
are ignorant, not by necessity, but choice—self-consti¬ 
tuted heathen men, who deliberately prefer practical 
atheism to Christianity. And we ask, is the world to 
be kept in ignorance—are the millions abroad to be left 
to perish—because there are those at home who u hate 
instruction,” and u love darkness rather than light?” 


* Williams, M. E. 


S43 


OBJECTIONS TO 


Such a sentiment you profess to repudiate ; but while 
you theoretically admit the heathen to a share in your 
sympathies, you still contend that— 

“ Charity begins at home.” To which it should be 
sufficient to reply, that this is a saying which, so far 
from subserving an objector to the Missionary enter¬ 
prise, tells directly against him, for it obviously implies 
that charity is diffusive, and instead of remaining at 
home only begins at home. There is but one way then, 
in which this proverb can avail you, and that is by 
implying that there has not yet been sufficient time for 
charity to begin her domestic duties ; in answer to which 
we will only suggest the inquiry, if upwards of a thou¬ 
sand years form too short a period for the mere work 
of preparatory benevolence at home, how many thou¬ 
sands are likely to elapse before the ends of the earth 
will be blessed with the Gospel ? 

For your third proposition, that u we must evangelize 
home first” implies, not only the order of benevolent 
operation, but also the high degree of success which 
must attend it before you could think of aiding Chris¬ 
tian Missions. But for such a requisition we are surely 
justified in expecting that you can plead the most sub¬ 
stantial warrant both from Scripture and experience. 
You should be able to show, for instance, that the 
apostles made the evangelization of Judea the condition 
of their attempting the conversion of the Gentiles, and 
that as they failed of entire success at home they never 
proceeded abroad. And you should be prepared to 
prove in addition, that this course has been uniformly 
sanctioned by the Divine blessing wherever it has been 
followed ; so that to confine our Christian activity to 
the limits of home, is the true secret of real pros¬ 
perity. Now surely you need not to be reminded 
that almost the only particular in which the apostles 
incurred the public rebuke of Providence, was for in¬ 
dulging the very disposition which you exhibit—for con¬ 
fining to their own country labours which were meant 
for the world ; that you owe it to the violation of that 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


349 


rule which you hold so sacred, that you yourself, and 
all your countrymen, are not living in heathenism ; and 
that when the apostles came to understand their duty, 
they no sooner encountered rejection from the Jews in 
any of the cities and regions they visited, than they 
forthwith u turned to the Gentiles.” And as to the 
conclusion derivable from experience on the subject, we 
would merely suggest the inquiry, whether it is not 
high time to suspect the w r isdom of a plan whose prac¬ 
tical operation and proposed result never promise to 
approach each other ? 

The following principles, we think, require but a very 
slight effort of attention, and of application to the sub¬ 
ject, in order to show you that your objection is utterly 
untenable. The first of these principles is, that as the 
Gospel is designed for every creature, we are bound 
to attempt its universal diffusion. This obligation arises 
partly out of our community of nature and interest—a 
relationship by which the entire race, instead of con¬ 
sisting of a multitude of detached and isolated indi¬ 
viduals, is formed into a family so closely united by 
reciprocal ties, that the well being of each is connected 
with the good of all. To complete the obligation, 
however, the will of Christ has made it authoritative 
and Divine. Do you ask where and how he has ex¬ 
pressed that will ? Not merely by commands to be 
found in almost every page of his Gospel, and which 
require us to “ do good unto all men.” Not merely 
by the authority of his own example in u taking away 
the sin of the world.” But also by the diffusive nature 
of the Gospel itself, by which it no sooner lakes effect 
on an individual than he feels himself impelled to pro¬ 
claim its virtues to others, and to urge its acceptance. 
And still more, if possible, by the Divine constitution 
of the Christian Church ; by which, as we have shown 
at large in the first Part, having composed it of such 
as have themselves found mercy, he requires them to 
act as a body organized and appointed for the recovery 
of others. 


30 


350 


OBJECTIONS TO 


But while every Christian is thus bound to aim at 
the welfare of the entire race, a second principle is, that 
there is an order in which his benevolent efforts are to 
be made. This law of succession is the order of nature, 
by which those who are most nearly related to us have 
the first and strongest claims on us ; the order of Pro¬ 
vidence, by which we are enabled to administer the 
means of salvation to those who are placed near to us 
earlier, and at less expense, and in greater variety and 
abundance than we can to those who are more remote 
from us ; the order of Scripture example, in which we 
see the apostles uniformly preaching first, wherever 
they went, to those of their own nation ; and also the 
order of the future judgment, according to which no 
plea of attempting good at a distance will be admitted 
as an answer to the charge, “ I was a stranger and ye 
took me not in.” But in saying all this, we may appear 
to be only repeating the sentiments of the objector. 
So far from this, however, we are insisting on a very 
different subject, and one which, by implication refutes 
his objection. For while we are only showing the order 
in which we are to work from the centre of our own 
circle outwards, he is contending for the time we are 
to remain in that circle, and the amount of good we 
are to accomplish there, before we attempt any thing 
beyond it; and is thus practically denying any order 
of usefulness at all. Whether the command of Christ 
to his apostles, that they should “begin at Jerusalem,” 
is applicable here, admits of a question; for it is quite 
possible that the reason of that injunction arose out 
of his relationship to the Jews, and not from that of 
the apostles—a relation which as it was perfectly unique, 
cannot be a ground of obligation to his followers. But 
allowing that it is applicable, and that it thus har¬ 
monizes with our present position; you, we say to the 
objector, you, by pleading exclusively for home, are 
acting directly at variance with it; for while it allows 
you to begin at home, it does not permit you to rest 
till you have aimed to diffuse the Gospel “ among all 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


351 


nations.” And this shows that the order in which our 
benevolent efforts are to be made is not only the order 
of nature, of Providence, of scriptural example, and 
of the final judgment, but also the order of self-increas¬ 
ing Christian usefulness; the order, that is, by which, 
in seeking the salvation of those immediately around 
us first, we multiply our means, through the grace of 
God, for usefulness to the world at large. 

Hence, a third principle is, that by observing the 
scriptural order of Christian activity^ success at home 
becomes the means of increased usefulness abroad. 
Home duties, then, are to be discharged partly with the 
view of ultimately augmenting our resources for every 
sphere of usefulness beyond. So that we may say to 
the objector—the Christian philanthropist has all your 
motives for seeking the welfare of those around him, 
and one in addition of which you know nothing,—the 
powerful motive of thus multiplying his means of bene¬ 
fiting the world at large. How many a Christian 
mother has found a strong additional inducement to the 
discharge of maternal duties from having devoted her 
Samuel in heart to the public service of God ! How 
many a Sunday-school teacher has laboured in his high 
vocation with increased devotedness when the thought 
arose that perhaps his class contained some youthful 
Eliot or Brainerd for the Missionary field ! And what 
a strong incentive to persevering diligence has the faith¬ 
ful pastor found in the recollection that the prosperity 
of his flock, was an element in the prosperity of the 
Church at large, and consequently in the welfare of the 
entire world! 

But from this arises, fourthly , the important principle 
that, in proportion as we scripturally seek the good of 
others, we ourselves are benefited. For, in the 
instances referred to, the mother, the teacher, and the 
minister, would be the first gainers by their increased 
attention to their respective classes of duties; and the 
son, the pupil, and the flock, would be the next, though 
the ultimate object aimed at was the good of parties 


352 


OBJECTIONS TO 


still more remote. And do you not know, vve might 
say to the objector, that this is only in harmony with 
the law of the Divine government which ordains that 
“he that watereth others shall himself be watered?” 
You surely do not suppose that the fulfilment of this 
gracious declaration depends on geographical limits. 
If it guarantees to the individual Christian the reflex 
benefit of all the good he aims to impart to his friend; 
and if it secures to a particular Church the advantageous 
reaction of all its efforts for the welfare of home, it. 
equally engages that Christians at home cannot unite 
to benefit the world, without finding the benefit return 
in showers of blessings upon themselves. The history 
of modem Missions is, as we have already shown, a 
continuous illustration of this great truth. So great 
has been the beneficial influence which they have been 
the means of exerting upon the Church at home, that 
if the Missionaries had effected little or no good among 
the heathen, they have accomplished more for their 
own countries by going abroad than if they had remained 
to occupy the most distinguished station at home. But 
of all this reflex influence you would deprive your 
country. By limiting benevolent exertion to your own 
circle, you would arrest the operation of a law by which 
all you do beyond that circle is repaid a hundred-fold, 
and without which probably there would be no bene¬ 
volent activity at this moment within that circle itself. 

And then, fifthly , this reciprocity of religious advan¬ 
tage reminds us of the great principle that the cause 
of human welfare is indivisible and one. Whereas, 
your objection proceeds on the assumption that the 
interests of religion at home and abroad are opposed 
to each other; so that whatever is done to promote the 
one is so much lost to the other. But is this a sup¬ 
position worthy of the professed follower of Him who 
embraced all the interests of humanity in his own per¬ 
son, and who left his Gospel in trust for “every crea¬ 
ture ?” It is true that the claims of a religious society 
are sometimes magnified beyond their due proportion 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


353 


of importance, and enforced in a manner which threatens 
with neglect or collision certain kindred institutions. 
And in some instances, a prior duty of inferior import¬ 
ance is underrated and neglected for a more remote 
but magnificent enterprise. But these are errors and 
evils incident alike to the cause of religion at home and 
abroad. The advocates of each, however, should re¬ 
member, that all our duties, temporal and spiritual, 
are so related, that he who neglects the least will find 
no excuse in pleading that he was attending to the 
greatest; and that all our Christian societies are so 
connected, that he who promotes one at the expense 
of another, inflicts injury upon them all. The example 
of our blessed Lord in looking down from the Cross, 
and tenderly providing for a mother’s comfort in the 
very crisis of the world’s redemption, shows that all 
the true interests of humanity are indivisible, and that 
all duty is sacred and one. 

V. Supposing the objector dislodged from the pre¬ 
ceding position, he may yet allege that even if it be our 
duty to attempt the evangelization of the heathen, we 
have not the necessary funds. This objection, we 
might reply, is untenable on various grounds : it proceeds 
on the assumption that we have already reached the 
maximum of our contributions for Missionary objects, 
whereas the steadiness with which, for so many years, 
they have gone on annually increasing, warrants the 
expectation rather that they will still continue to in¬ 
crease. The objection assumes, too, that the Christian 
Church is either so good or so bad as to admit of no 
improvement; whereas, we confidently anticipate that, 
in answer to prayer, the Spirit will exalt the character 
of its piety, and that, as one of the necessary conse¬ 
quences, the pecuniary resources of Christians will be 
consecrated in a larger proportion than ever to the 
service of God. iinother of the false assumptions on 
which the objection proceeds is, that the expense of 
evangelizing the nations is always to devolve entirely 
30* 


354 


OBJECTIONS TO 


on the Church at home. But let Christianity begin to 
consecrate to Christian purposes those immense sums 
which Paganism lavishes on its vain superstitions, and 
the Church at home might be reimbursed, if necessary, 
of the expenses already incurred. Christianity would 
need little for its support, compared with what idolatry 
requires. The celebration of the feast of the Hindoo 
goddess Doorga, costs, at Calcutta alone, not less than 
the annual sum of five hundred thousand pounds ster¬ 
ling. u In the kingdom of Siam alone, with a popula¬ 
tion of four or five millions, there are at least twenty 
thousand priests, besides a great number of splendid 
and costly pagodas, supported by the voluntary con¬ 
tributions of the people. In Burmah, India, and many 
Mahometan countries, we find the same lavish ex¬ 
penditure of talents and money in honour of their 
objects of adoration.”* Let these resources be turned 
into the channels of Christian benevolence, and not 
only will they be sufficient, by the Divine blessing, to 
irrigate their own desert, but even to help in fertilizing 
whatever waste places might still exist in our own borders. 

But, most of all, do we demur at the grave assump¬ 
tion, that the ultimate success of the Missionary enter¬ 
prise depends on the amount of our funds. That 
money is necessary for the prosecution of our object, 
we admit ; but, remembering that an almighty Agent 
is graciously working with us and by us, the question 
of “ how much ?” admits not of human calculation. 
And remembering also that in the promises of Divine 
approbation and success, the stress is laid, not so much 
on the intrinsic value of the offering or service, as on 
the manner in which it is rendered, we are warranted 
in affirming that the consummation at which we aim 
depends not on the amount of our resources, but on 
the entireness with which we consecrate that amount, 
whether great or small, to the service ; that were we, 
on the one hand to devote a thousand-fold more to it, 


# Abeel on Missions, p. 142. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


355 


we should not be warranted to expect success, if still 
we sacrilegiously kept back a portion unemployed ; but 
that if, on the other hand, our funds, and agents, and 
resources were to be ever so much reduced from what 
they now are, still if they were all we could furnish, 
we should be justified in expecting complete success. 
Let the multitude to be fed be ever so large, and the 
means of feeding them ever so small, still if the whole 
of that scanty provision be cheerfully placed in the 
hand of Christ, in that hand it will be so greatly^ mul¬ 
tiplied, that they shall u all eat and be filled.” To 
suppose, in such a case, that we should fail in diffusing 
the Gospel over the earth, is to suppose, either that we 
are not responsible for that diffusion, or it is to make 
that responsibility return, and rest on him who had 
imposed it. 

VI. Still the objector may plead, that since our Lord 
prayed for the visible union of all his followers in order 
to the conversion of the world, we ought not to embark 
in the Missionary enterprise until that union has been 
effected. Not only do we admit that this representa¬ 
tion of the prayer of Christ is correct; we believe that 
the spirit of disunion among Christians is doing more 
at this moment to prevent the diffusion and success of 
Christianity in the world than all other causes together. 
But the propriety of deducing and adopting the ob¬ 
jector’s inference from this admission, we unhesitatingly 
deny. We have to remind him first, and chiefly, that 
the duty of diffusing the Gospel is not made to depend 
on our union, but on the explicit command of Christ. 
And, next, we have to suggest, that our Lord may have 
evinced his wisdom in this respect, by making our efforts 
for that diffusion conducive to the restoration of that 
union. Now this, we submit, is actually the fact. 
The common ground of benevolent activity is almost 
the only bond of the visible union of Christians which 
remains unbroken. And it is the growing conviction 
of the writer, that as this is almost the last ligament 


35(5 


OBJECTIONS TO 


which visibly holds them together, so it is likely to be 
the first and the principal means which God will employ 
in again restoring them to each other’s love. Whether 
he will compel them thus to unite, in mere self-defence 
against the counter-activity of a world whose interests 
they are betraying and neglecting by their divisions; 
or whether, by an effusion of the Spirit of love and 
zeal, he may lead them to think more of the will of 
Christ than of the claim of party, we stay not now to 
inquire. But judging of the superior facilities for 
union which plans of benevolent activity present, and 
from the deepening conviction of Christians that such 
combination is made essential to the conversion of the 
world, we repeat our belief that benevolent co-operation 
is likely to be the principal means of restoring Christian 
union. 

Thus the objection against Christian Missions is 
turned into an argument in their behalf. They make 
us feel that we have a common object and a common 
interest; and what can the effect of that be but to 
inspire us with sentiments of reciprocal affection ? Let 
us only meet on common ground, hail each other as 
auxiliaries to the same grand cause, and co-operate for 
the common interests of the world, and how necessarily 
would our groundless dislikes give place to a feeling 
which would deprecate every project to disjoin, and 
welcome such measures only as tended more closely to 
unite. If it be true of the blessed God, that u they 
who know his name will put their trust in him,” it 
must be true, in a subordinate but corresponding sense, 
that the more his people, as such, know of each other 
—of their mutual resemblance to him, their common 
concern for the salvation of the world, and their zeal 
for his glory—the more sincerely will they admire each 
other’s piety, and the more will they unite for the 
achievement of their common object; while the only 
contention between them will be that of the vine with 
the olive, which shall bear the best and most abundant 
fruit. 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


357 


VII. The objection of the millenarian—that the con¬ 
version of the heathen is reserved for the second coming 
of Christ, and consequently, all attempts to effect the 
object by the diffusion of the Gospel will prove useless 
—we have considered at length in the first Part of this 
Treatise. The reader may remember that we have 
there endeavoured to show, that such an inference is 
at variance with some of the admitted principles and 
necessary deductions of Divine Revelation ; that it is 
not warranted by prophecy ; but that the very reverse 
is the doctrine of the prophetic Scriptures; and is 
found to be in perfect harmony with every other part 
of the word of God by which its correctness can be 
properly tested. The prosecution of the inquiry dis¬ 
closes, if we mistake not, the important facts, that 
whatever conflicts may hereafter ensue between the 
Church and the world, will arise from the success of 
the Gospel; and that whatever judgments the earth 
may yet be called to witness, will only concur with 
the power of ’the Gospel to enlarge the domains of 
the Christian faith. So that those very predictions 
which are too often made to depress the hopes and 
dishearten the zeal of the Church, will be found cal¬ 
culated, when rightly understood, to animate its activity 
as with the blast of a trumpet. 

VIII. And another objection, not very remotely al¬ 
lied to the last, amounts to this, “ The time is not come, 
the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” When 
that selected time arrives, the Almighty will easily find 
means to accomplish the conversion of the world ; and 
till then, all our efforts are premature and presump¬ 
tuous, and must prove abortive. In reply to this Islam¬ 
ite doctrine, we might say to the objector, l our con¬ 
duct in urging this objection is inconsistent with your 
creed; for how do you know that it is the will of 
God that you should urge it? Why “use the means” 
for correcting our supposed errors ? Are you not by 
this very act “ taking God’s work out of his hands?" 


358 


OBJECTIONS TO 


bad you not better leave bim to take care of bis own 
cause? When “the time comes” for God to correct 
our errors, will he not find an abundance of means 
without disquieting you ? and till then, is it not pre¬ 
sumptuous for you to attempt to u take the work 
out of his hands ?” If, however, on some inexplicable 
ground, you still consider yourself justified in “ using 
means” to denounce the Missionary enterprise, are you 
using means enough ? Ought not your opposition to 
become more practical and laborious ? If you really 
believe we are forestalling the appointments of Heaven 
in assailing the idolatries of the heathen world, and 
tormenting the demons before their time, ought you not 
to employ counter-Missionaries, for instance, to protect 
those abominations, and to prolong their reign for a 
season longer ? But perhaps your principle of interfer¬ 
ence only applies to those cases in which labours are 
unnecessary, and serious sacrifices not required. 

You surely do not presume to plead that because 
God permits the existence of heathenism—does not 
arbitrarily destroy it—therefore it is not for you to 
attempt to reduce it. This plea would not avail you 
unless you could assign the same reasons for your con¬ 
duct, which God can for his. And not only must your 
reasons be identical with his, your conduct in relation 
to heathenism must harmonize with his. But this it 
cannot, except by your cordially embarking in the Mis¬ 
sionary enterprise. For has he not maintained an un¬ 
broken contest with the evil ? Have not cities, nations, 
a world, perished for it ? Has your zeal ever flamed 
against it ? He has appointed and put into operation 
a grand system of means divinely adapted to subvert 
the reign of evil; what are you doing to give that 
system impulse and activity ? He has laid a command 
on every member of his Church to assist in sending the 
Gospel to every creature; so that if you are not ren¬ 
dering it obedience, and calling on others to join you, 
the sense in which you are content to permit the con¬ 
tinuance of heathenism, differs essentially from the only 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


359 


sense in which he can be said to suffer it. Every 
attribute of his nature is in hostility to it; every prin¬ 
ciple of his government—the whole course of his provi¬ 
dence—is arrayed against it; the great wonder, the 
miracle of his mercy, is, that he should permit the 
continuance, age after age, of a Church which he has 
called into existence, partly for the purpose of extin¬ 
guishing that evil, but many of whose members still 
plead, “the time is not come—the work is not ours but 
God’s.” 

Perhaps, however, you profess to be only waiting for 
the necessary indications, in order to evince your perfect 
readiness to act. But yours must be a very controllable 
zeal, if it does not sometimes quicken into impatience 
for the arrival of the sufficient signs. Inspired men 
of old often expressed themselves in language which 
showed that they would fain have multiplied themselves 
and their means a thousand fold against the prevalent 
idolatry. Now that must be a state of mind of a very 
different order which leads you to regard exemption 
from such hostility as a favour, and to denounce the 
activity of others as presumption. 

But what are the signs from heaven which you would 
deem sufficient to warrant you in joining the Mis¬ 
sionary enterprise ? Would a direct and express com¬ 
mand possess any weight with you ? Never has the 
Lord of the Church ceased to say, not to you merely, 
but to every member of that Church, “Preach my 
Gospel to every creature.” Would you regard the 
concurrence of the providence of God with the com¬ 
mand of his word, as an additional call to action ? 
Behold it in the disappearance of numerous obstacles 
to Missionary exertion; in the rapid accumulation of 
important facilities; and in the fact that so many 
hundreds of agents are at this moment actually occu¬ 
pied in the Missionary field. Would you regard their 
success as another indication that the time for action 
has arrived ? How could you venture a different inter¬ 
pretation ? Here then are thousands converted by their 


360 


OBJECTIONS TO 


instrumentality; you surely will not think, for the sake 
of a theory, of ascribing their change to any other than 
a Divine agency. Remember, then, that each of these 
conversions is to be regarded as an argument from 
heaven against your non-interfering views ; and as a 
Divine reward to the friends of Missions for having 
acted on principles directly opposite. And would you 
interpret the readiness and anxiety of the heathen to 
receive Christian instruction, as an additional sign that 
the Missionary era had come ? The Lord of Missions 
appears to have regarded such readiness as a call to 
activity, when he directed his disciples to mark that 
the fields were white to the harvest. Far wider fields 
invite our attention. In every direction, the vision of 
the “man of Macedonia” is, in effect, repeated, and 
heathen voices are heard lifted up in earnest application 
for help. 

Now is it possible that you should still require other 
signs that the period for labour has come, before you 
will consent to move ? The Reformers, there is ground 
to believe, deemed less than these sufficient to justify 
them in attempting to shake the Church, and the world. 
And, judging from the results, you would not say that 
they displeased God by the attempt. His most dis¬ 
tinguished servants appear to have regarded his express 
command, and opportunity to perform it, as always 
sufficient to create obligation to obedience; and the 
success of their endeavours has convincingly shown that 
they were not mistaken. With such strong and nu¬ 
merous inducements to Missionary devotedness as we 
possess, then, our only fear for ourselves is, lest we 
should incur the rebuke of “the unprofitable servant;” 
and for you, lest you should fall under the spirit of the 
fearful denunciation, “Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bit¬ 
terly, because they came not out to the help of the 
Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” 

One of the remarks inevitably suggested by our 
survey of the preceding objections is, that each of them, 
relying on some partial view of the truth, overlooks 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


361 


the great principle of revelation to which it belongs, 
and by which it must be decided. Who, for instance, 
could ever have brought himself to look on heathenism, 
as if it were in amicable coexistence with the Divine 
government, or on the heathens themselves as being 
in any other state than that of the most fearful exposure 
to everlasting death, unless he had lost sight of the 
universal and unrepealable law, u Thou shalt have none 
other gods before me ?” Or, who could have deemed 
it a valid objection to say that heathenism is unalter¬ 
able, until he had forgotten that the Gospel was 
launched at first into an ocean of heathenism—for, 
with the exception of Judea, the whole world was an 
idolatrous temple; that if the case is altered now, the 
Gospel has been the means of affecting the change; 
that he himself and those around him are, in their 
own persons, an answer to the objection; and that the 
Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation to 
every one that believeth ? Or, who could think that 
he was acting scripturally in confining his evangelical 
desires and endeavours exclusively to one nation, even 
though that nation be his own, until he had forgotten 
the great principle of our Lord’s command, that the 
Gospel is designed equally for all nations ? 

Another reflection forced on us by these objections 
is, that many, if not all of them have been defended 
with a pertinacity which zeal for the truth can seldom 
command. If those who entertain them set a high 
value on religious distinctness from the world, they are 
certainly unfortunate in having adopted objections to 
the Missionary cause, which, as far as they go, com¬ 
pletely identify them with the world. And we will 
venture to suggest whether it ought not to awaken 
their suspicion as to the soundness of their views on 
finding, that if indolence, self-indulgence, and unbelief, 
could speak on the subject, it would be to repeat the 
very same objections in the same language. 

But chiefly we are reminded, that Christian Missions 
have this mark, in common with the Gospel, that they 

31 


362 


OBJECTIONS TO 


are not of men but of God, that every objection 
brought against them can be so easily converted into 
an argument in their behalf. And this removal of the 
war from our own into the enemies’ country takes place, 
be it observed, in every instance, not merely by a 
triumphant appeal to undeniable and accumulating facts, 
but also on the authority of one or more of those great 
principles of the word of God which the objector had 
overlooked. Thus, does he plead that Missionary effort 
is unnecessary, because the state of the heathen is not 
so desperate as we seem to imagine ? We can show 
him that if rampant rebellion against God be a state of 
guilt ; if to be hopeless and Godless be a condition of 
misery ; and if the most fearful threatenings of the 
offended Majesty of heaven be a just ground of terror, 
then is the whole idolatrous world in a state of the most 
crying and appalling want ; for such are their guilt, and 
wretchedness, and danger, that hell may be said to have 
come to them on this side of death. Does he regard the 
Missionary object as impracticable ? We can show him 
that the difficulties are vanishing while he is speaking 
of them. We can call for the trophies of Divine success 
—and they come from the four quarters of the earth. 
Impracticable I What, when hundreds of Missionaries 
are actually in the field ; thousands, tens, hundreds of 
thousands of heathens converted and collected into 
Christian societies, and of their children receiving 
Christian instruction ! No good done ! Spirits of the 
blessed, who have ascended from the Missionary churches 
to join the ranks of the redeemed out of all nations 
and kindreds, and who are now before the throne—is 
your salvation nothing ? Nothing to yourselves, as you 
glance from the depths you have escaped to the heights 
you have attained ! Nothing to the society you have 
joined ! Nothing to Him, the light of whose coun¬ 
tenance is at this moment falling on you, and making 
your heaven ? The objection is turned into a rebuke 
that we should have been detained by it so long. In 
a word, whatever his pleas may be, unless he can show 


THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


363 


that the great command of Christ to preach the Gospel 
to every creature—a command frequently repeated, and 
variously enforced in Scripture as the law of the Chris¬ 
tian Church—has been modified or repealed, we con¬ 
fidently bring down its annihilating weight on all his 
objections, and challenge him, as one included in the 
principle which it contains, that all who possess the 
Gospel are bound to co-operate to the extent of their 
ability in giving it to the world. 
















' ' 










i 












• * 

■ 

















/ V 


: ■ ' , ■ I 

























































PART V, 

THE WANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN RELATION 
TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE j OR, THE NECES¬ 
SITY OF EMINENT PIETY, AND ENTIRE CONSECRA¬ 
TION, IN ORDER TO ENLARGED SUCCESS. 


THE WANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN RELATION TO 

MISSIONS. 

The prosecution of our prescribed course, has brought 
us to a very important part of our subject. If, as we 
have shown in the First Part, the Church is constructed 
expressly to embody and diffuse the influence of the 
Cross throughout the world ; if the Second Part proves 
that, as far as the Church has answered this end in the 
modern Missionary enterprise, its success has been fully 
proportioned to its efforts ; if the Third Part has shown 
that encouragements from every quarter urge and ani¬ 
mate us to advance in our Missionary career ; and if the 
Fourth Part assures us that every objection to our course 
becomes, when rightly considered, an argument to re¬ 
double our efforts—an unreflecting reader might be 
ready to conclude that nothing remains for us but mutual 
congratulations and unalloyed satisfaction. 

The enlightened Christian, however, need not be re¬ 
minded that, as in his own experience, a sense of joy 
in God, and of dissatisfaction with himself often meet 
together in the same moment, so the hour in which the 
31 * 



366 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


Church may have the greatest reason to rejoice through 
God in its relative usefulness, may be the hour in which 
the dust of self-abasement may most become it on 
account of its own defective instrumentality. He will 
remember that, however “the manifold wisdom of God” 
may have been displayed in organizing his Church for 
usefulness, but few of its members as yet may have 
perceived that adaptation, and fewer still have com¬ 
bined to exemplify it in practice. He will remember 
that while the Church now, as compared with what it 
has been, may be doing much, yet compared with what 
it should be, it may be doing nothing ; that its fitness 
for one office, by no means implies a fitness for every 
order of duty; and that its very improvement may be 
made in a manner which may justly incur rebuke. 
He is aware that much collective activity may exist 
where there is but very little individual zeal; that, 
owing to the blessing of God on that activity, oppor¬ 
tunities of usefulness may increase more rapidly than 
our readiness to seize and improve them; and that, in 
this manner, success itself may become a snare and a 
burden. And remembering all this, the effect of the 
preceding survey will be that so far from hastily sur¬ 
rendering himself to the pleasing but hazardous con¬ 
clusion that all is well, he will feel that now has 
arrived the time for humble, searching, anxious self- 
examination ; that to detect an evil now, may be the 
means of saving us from undue elation at present, and 
from much mortification in the future ; and that to 
point out the great want of the Church now, may be 
to bring to it present prosperity, and to hasten by 
ages the glory of God in the salvation of the world. 

But how is this examination of the Church to be 
conducted; or, where is to be found the test of its 
fitness for converting the world ? This can only be 
found in its original constitution. Now on looking back 
to our exposition of Christian instrumentality it will 
be seen that, according to that constitution, the indi¬ 
vidual Christian, the particular Church, the entire 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


367 


Christian community—the whole, penetrated and actu¬ 
ated by the Holy Spirit—is intended relatively to act 
in harmony with the Cross for the good of the world. 
Every addition made to it, is meant to be an addi¬ 
tional agent for carrying out the purposes of the Cross. 
Every element at work in it—whether it arises from 
numbers and combination, from eminent piety, self- 
denial, and zeal, or from prayer, and the influence of 
the Holy Spirit uniting with the whole—is an element 
for drawing men to Christ. 

But if the full efficiency of the Church for this end, 
depends, under God, on the entireness of its consecration 
to this office, it will follow that the slightest diversion 
of its influence from this object is so much given to 
the very power which it was called into existence ex¬ 
press ly to counteract; and that this is, in effect, the 
secret of its long decline and fall. 

But then, it follows also, that if, at length, in that 
depressed slate, the Church should awake to a sense 
of its responsibility as a Missionary agent for the 
world’s recovery to Christ—if then it should withhold 
any proportion of its influence, in that very proportion 
it would stand disqualified for answering its great origi¬ 
nal design. In this position the Church now stands; 
and here, we repeat, is the test of its fitness, at present, 
for its Missionary office. To bring it to this test, 
indeed, has been the duty of every age. But never so 
much so as now, when after the slumber of centuries, 
it is meditating the renovation of the world. 

Now, on calling upon the Christian Church to muster 
for this review, is it not ominous at the outset that 
we know not who will appear? In answer to the 
name of Christian, indeed, about two hundred mil¬ 
lions present themselves. But the great majority of 
these Christianity disowns. She knows them not. 
Many of them are among the chosen of Satan. The 
heathen around them are the worse for their vicinity. 
They must be dismissed by millions to the ranks of 
the foe. And thus, like Gideon’s army, the number 


368 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH, 


is reduced by a single sweep to a comparative few. 
And here goes, at first, the influence of numbers. 

But perhaps, it may be said, that large portions of 
Christendom make no pretentions to the Missionary 
spirit, and ought not therefore to be subjected to the 
examination. Without stopping to contest the point, 
and in order to be definite, let us suppose that after 
all such portions have been dismissed, those who re¬ 
main before us consist of the various denominations 
professing evangelical Christianity. Let us indulge the 
hope that as they are so reduced in number, and as 
each equally professes to live for the salvation of the 
world, they have at least learnt the unspeakable value 
of union. United! Union! What does it mean ? 
When did it exist ? is it not a fiction of the fancy ? 
If there be such a thing, the Church practically disowns 
it. Whatever sympathetic connexion may here and 
there exist among individual Christians, the Church, as 
a Church, disowns it. See how these Christians hate ! 
In their visible and public capacity, they scorn to ap¬ 
proach each other. They expend more strength in 
struggling with each other than in encountering the 
world. The world looks on amused. Infidelity claps 
her hands. And thus is lost the influence of union. 

But though it be thus divided as a whole, let us 
hope to find that the members of each particular Church 
are alive and devoted as one man to its Missionary 
design. Let us take one Church as a specimen of all. 
Here are a thousand souls, we will suppose, assembled 
for Christian worship. As the service proceeds, the 
time for commemorating the great doctrine of the Cross 
arrives. The majority arise and quit the place ; thus 
practically disavowing all belief in the doctrine, or all 
interest in it ; and leaving it to be inferred that, for 
aught they care, the world may forget, if it will, that 
Christianity has a Cross, or that Christ died on it for 
our redemption. 

But still we will suppose, a large minority remains. 
Do we, however, flatter ourselves that we shall find 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


369 


general co-operation and devotedness here ? We only 
evince our ignorant simplicity. True, they have just 
pledged themselves anew at the table of the Lord to 
the cause of the world’s salvation ; but let us wait 
awhile, and we shall soon see how little that means— 
nothing incompatible with the most unmoved worldly 
self-indulgence. We expected to see them all equally 
interested in the object ; but let us wait awhile, and we 
shall see that the task of keeping them thus partially 
awake, devolves entirely on two or three. We might 
have expected to see these, at least, nobly devote to 
Christ a portion of the time which the world devotes 
entirely to the pursuits of gain ; but no, religion must 
wait till the world has been fully satisfied ; and then, 
if a few of the jaded moments of evening are of service, 
they are spared. 

Agents of mercy are wanted for distant lands ; and 
we might have expected to see them start forth from 
the ranks of the rich and the poor alike ; or, rather, we 
might have looked to see those who would require the 
least delay for educational preparation and support, offer 
themselves first. Might we so ? What, when the act 
would involve the danger of losing caste with the world ? 
Surely we did not expect to see them incur such a risk 
merely for the sake of saving immortal souls. True, 
the act would have the noblest effect both on the Church 
and on the world ; but we cannot expect them to sacri¬ 
fice gentility, and ease, and the prospect of worldly 
gain, for such an object! 

Wealth is wanted to prepare and send forth those 
who do offer themselves—all the superfluous wealth of 
the Church. But what do we behold ? not only is 
every other claimant satisfied first; not only is self, the 
most clamorous of them all, appeased—but only a 
fraction of what is left is then placed on the altar of 
Christ. 

Prayer is wanted ; and from what we hear them say 
of its efficacy, we might expect, that, however remiss 
in other means, they would not neglect this ; that per- 


370 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


haps, they were indifferent to the others, only to reserve 
the ardour of their souls for this. But when the 
monthly or periodical season comes round, when the 
Church is supposed to be all collected and intent on 
obtaining an audience of Heaven, on the subject of the 
world’s salvation, what do we behold ? Crowds throng¬ 
ing and besieging heaven with supplications ? the 
strong cries of a Church travailing to bring forth ? The 
reply is too obvious to be necessary. Here, then, is 
lost the influence of self-denial, consistency, and prayer. 

That exceptions to this representation exist, we gladly 
admit—exceptions which stand out in bold and bright 
relief—and owing to which it is, that the Church is 
not actually retrograde. But that this is the rule, we 
confidently appeal to observation and experience. Need 
we then ask, if the Spirit is visibly and gloriously 
present with the Church ? Present with individual 
ministers and members of the Church, to a certain 
extent, he is; present with certain Societies composed 
of a number of such ministers and members, he is 
—Societies which are the salt of the Churches, as 
Christians are said to be the salt of the earth—but 
present with a Church, as a Church, he is not. As 
a Church, Christians do not invoke him. As a Church, 
they are not awake to their responsibility. And how 
can he, the great Missionary Spirit, sent to convince 
the world of sin, honour a Church which is so generally 
content that the world should remain unconvinced ? 
How can his activity combine with its comparative 
indolence ?—his love mingle with its internal hatred ? 
—his gushing benevolence, with its supine self-in¬ 
dulgence ? 

In thus exposing the defects of the Christian Church, 
in relation to its Missionary office, we have abridged 
the unwelcome task as much as is consistent with the 
object of showing that defects exist with a view of point¬ 
ing out the remedy. And if this sketch be correct, can 
we wonder if the world is slow to receive the Gospel 
at our hands? What reason has the Church, as a 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


371 


Church, yet given the world that she herself believes 
it ? Here and there an individual member acts out his 
principles, and the world admits his sincerity; and, 
however it may dislike his holiness, is almost as ready 
to admire his consistency and exemplariness, as the 
Church itself. But what reason has the Church gene¬ 
rally given the world to believe it sincere ? For fifteen 
hundred years the wealth of the world was passing 
through its hands; did it employ that mighty talent for 
the world’s conversion ? The world itself was at its 
feet; did it do much better than trample on it ? Again 
the world, in a nobler sense, is at our feet; asking us, 
if not in anguish of soul, at least, with marks of visible 
concern, what it must do to be saved. Providence is 
urging us to answer the question; Christ is saying, 
“ Go and proclaim the Cross to every creature ;” and 
we ourselves professing to believe that we hold in our 
hands the means of success—professing to exult that 
the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation—can yet 
hardly bring ourselves to tell more than one in a thou¬ 
sand, that there is any salvation; and, professing to 
believe that Christ has an absolute claim on all we have, 
can hardly bring ourselves to surrender sufficient to tell 
that one in a thousand. Oh, if our Lord had forbade 
self-denial—if he were now to repeal the law of self-con¬ 
secration, and to enact a law of self-indulgence—would 
not the great majority of his people be found in a state 
of perfect obedience ? If living to themselves would 
convert the world, how long since would the world have 
been saved ! 

Do we—can we wonder that no more good has been 
effected by us ? What, when we are acting in almost 
entire oblivion of the Scripture theory of Christian 
usefulness ? When, as members of the Christian 
Church, we are violating almost every part of that 
theory ? What, when we have had to act in the face 
not merely of a sinful world, but of the still more hos¬ 
tile influences arising from our own selfish inconsist¬ 
ency ? When the influence of the little w 7 e have done, 


372 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


has been fearfully diminished by the neutralizing effect 
of the much we have left undone ? We have had to 
act against ourselves. The world quotes us as autho¬ 
rity against ourselves. Our habits neutralize our acts. 
Our deeds contradict and silence our professions. The 
powerful influence which should have arisen from our 
evident union, disinterestedness, and self-consecration, 
though lost to us, is not lost to the conflict in which 
we are engaged ; it is arrayed against us ; it is more 
effectual than all other influences combined, in render¬ 
ing powerless the effect of our actual efforts. The 
wonder is, then, that efforts so slender, divided, and 
languid as ours are, should have been 'attended, not 
with so little, but with so much success. The glory 
is more evidently the Lord’s. 

Can we doubt, then, what it is which the Missionary 
Church of Christ requires ? simply to realize the Scrip¬ 
ture requirement of entire consecration to its office. 
Let us not say, in excuse, it has never been realized. 
Never by a Church, perhaps, but by more of its indi¬ 
vidual members than history records, or than we may 
imagine. Religion has ever had a few such on the 
earth; and to that two or three the Church has been 
more indebted, under God, than to all its other con¬ 
temporaneous members together. If corrupt, they have 
saved it from sinking under the weight of its evils. If 
sunk, they have helped it to rise. And, hence, when 
an enlightened posterity records the annals of their 
age, their names are almost the only honoured. When 
the Holy Spirit himself indites the “ Acts of the Apos¬ 
tles,” he comparatively passes by all the rest, to do 
honour to the man who went through the world ex¬ 
claiming, “None of us liveth to himself.” Let us not 
say, again, “My domestic claims—my children—re¬ 
quire my time, absorb my property, and thus curtail 
my usefulness.” They were meant to increase our use¬ 
fulness ; to augment the moral treasures of the Church; 
to multiply its agencies of good to the world. Are 
they not training up for God ? What, is the sum of 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


373 


our moral history to be, that we contributed a trifle 
in money to the cause of Christ, and left our children 
to carry on the cause of Satan ? Better for the Chris¬ 
tian cause had we never been born. As if they had 
been sent down to us from heaven with a charge from 
Christ to prepare them for his service, let us look on 
them as the instruments by which, while we live, we 
may extend our usefulness ; and by which, when dead, 
we may still continue to say to posterity, “None of us 
liveth to himself.” 

Can we doubt, then, we repeat, what it is which the 
Church requires ? A growing desire to be useful we 
have : and a growing disposition to be active. But 
that which we most require, and for the want of 
which no activity can ever compensate, is a fitness, that 
moral fitness which springs from disinterested devoted¬ 
ness to the one object of the world’s salvation. If 
religion has not yet mastered us, how can w^e expect 
by it to master others ? How can we speak effectively 
for religion to the world, when it is so necessary that 
some one should plead for religion with us ? How can 
we expect to reclaim the world to Christ, when large 
tracts of our own character are unreclaimed; when the 
most fruitful and cherished tracts within us are pagan 
tracts, where the objects and idols of sense are wor¬ 
shipped ?—Mahometan tracts, where self-indulgence 
reigns ?—a moral waste ? Unless all the rules of fit¬ 
ness between means and ends are to be dispensed with, 
how can we expect the world to believe that it is perish¬ 
ing, until they behold us in anguish for their rescue ? 
The world is selfish ; how can we hope to reclaim it if 
we ourselves are not models of disinterestedness ? “If 
you Christians have known all these things,” says the 
pagan, “ and really believed that we ignorant heathen 
must perish unless we believe in your Jesus Christ; 
how could you leave so great a part of the world, for 
so many generations, to go down to perdition, without 
coming sooner to tell us of this only way in which 

32 


374 


THE WANTS OF TIIE CHURCH 


we can be saved ?”—What can the Missionary say ? 
This is not idle fancy ; it is matter of distressing fact.* 

When a great experiment is to be made in natural 
philosophy, the preparation of the apparatus to be 
employed, will often occupy a longer time than the 
experiment itself. The uninitiated spectator is sur¬ 
prised at the patient and laborious anxiety evinced by 
the experimenter to bring his instruments into a state 
of working perfection. But well he knows from many 
a previous failure, that the presence of a single particle 
of matter foreign to the experiment, is often sufficient 
to vitiate the whole process. Christ proposes the great 
moral process of drawing the world to himself; the 
Christian Church is the apparatus to be employed ; 
and worldly selfishness or sin the object to be operated 
on. Do we not see the vital importance that not a 
particle of the thing to be destroyed should adhere to 
the instrument employed to destroy it ? Do we not 
see the nature of the fitness we need—perfect contrast 
to the world ? And that this fitness is indispensable to 
success ? Oh, for such an instrumentality ! We ask 
not that it should consist at first of many Christians— 
their success would not depend on their number—but 
of men penetrated, possessed, with the conviction that 
Christian consistency and entire devotedness to the 
world’s recovery, are one and the same thing ; that 
without such intense devotedness to that one object 
nothing morally great has ever been achieved ; men who 
feel that they are not their own as intensely if their per¬ 
sons were marked and sprinkled with the blood of 
Christ ; and who, in the spirit of that self-consecration 
should resolve that, by God’s help, the world should 
feel their influence before they die. Oh, for such an 
instrumentality ! The Church should be converted, and 
the world too ! 

1, Now if eminent Christian devotedness constitute the 

* The Claims of 600,000,000 of Heathen; by Hall and Newell, 
American Missionaries at Bombay, p. 77. 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


375 


great want of the Church in its Missionary relation, deep 
humility must be regarded as our first requisite, both on 
account of that essential deficiency, as well as to prepare 
us for greater improvement and success in the future. 
Had we u done all those things which are commanded” 
us, it would still have been our place to come into our 
Master’s presence, saying, ct We are unprofitable ser¬ 
vants ; we have done that which was our duty to do.” 
Where then is the depth of abasement equal to the 
necessities of the case, now that we have almost entirely 
neglected that duty ? And yet where are the tears of 
the Church on account of that neglect ? How much 
easier it is to find the signs of self-gratulation on ac¬ 
count of the little which we have done, than of self-con¬ 
demnation on account of the much we have left undone ? 
Where are the broken-hearted confessions which should 
ensue on a thoughtful calculation of the souls which 
have probably perished, and the revenue of glory conse¬ 
quently lost to the name of God, through our want of 
fidelity to our trust ? Where is the disposition which 
might be looked for, to ascertain our guilty omissions, 
and most crying wants, and to take them into the pre¬ 
sence of God and cast ourselves at his feet in order to 
our forgiveness and improvement ? 

And yet until these questions can be answered 
satisfactorily, we have no ground to expect the growing 
success we profess to desire. The law of the Divine 
economy on this sucject is, “He that humbleth him¬ 
self shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself 
shall be humbled.” God will not trust those with suc¬ 
cess, who are likely to appropriate the glory to them¬ 
selves. One of the principles by which he regulates 
this part of his conduct is, to proportion the useful¬ 
ness and prosperity of his people according as they 
are able to bear it. The measure of our present suc¬ 
cess, then, is to be regarded as the measure of our 
present humility; so that if we would not stop at the 
point of usefulness to which we have attained, nor be 
prepared for a higher degree by a course of painful 


376 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


providential discipline, we must humble ourselves under 
the mighty hand of God. Eminent devotedness to 
God will recognize and rejoice in this as a primary 
duty, while the sincere performance of the duty cannot 
fail to promote eminent devotedness to God. 

2. The next requisite for the Church in its Mis¬ 
sionary capacity which we venture to specify is, the 
due appreciation of the spiritual nature of the icork in 
which we are engaged. Independently of the danger 
on this subject to which we are naturally and always 
liable, the present day has dangers peculiar to itself. 
Our claims as the benefactors of mankind, are not, as 
formerly, passed by in contempt, or summarily dis¬ 
missed by the world as mischievous or chimerical; 
but hence the danger of lowering our tone as the 
servants of the Most High God, and of aiming to 
make out a case for its commendation which will com¬ 
promise our character for fidelity to him. Our claims 
are not only canvassed by the world generally, but 
partially patronized by the great; but let us remember 
that if they have not the mind of Christ, that which 
constitutes the true distinction and glory of our object 
is “far above out of their sight,” and that what they 
admire in it are merely its outward accidents and 
adjuncts. Nor do we now occupy the field of bene¬ 
volent activity alone; a philanthropic philosophy pro¬ 
fesses to join us, to aim at the same end with our¬ 
selves, and to be emulous of excelling us in benefiting 
mankind; but let us remember that our proper work 
is unique, and that we cannot contest with a worldly 
philanthrophy without coming down from our high vo¬ 
cation, and forgetting that our great aim is, not the 
temporal, civil, or social improvement of mankind, but 
their spiritual recovery to God. 

But in order to this, we must sympathize with God. 
This is our only security. And yet how few com¬ 
paratively do this. How much more frequently do 
we act from the lowest allowable, rather than from the 
highest possible views of Christian duly. How content 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


377 


are we with mere occasional glimpses of the loftier 
order of Christian motives; as if it were quite sufficient 
to satisfy us if we can thus assure ourselves now and 
then of their existence. How seldom do we stand 
and gaze on our enterprise in the only light in which 
it is viewed from heaven; as having been revolved 
from eternity in the mind of God ; as asking the uni¬ 
verse for a theatre ; involving the endless well-being 
of a race of immortals; requiring the Prince of Life 
for a sacrifice; and all spiritual natures, even the 
Infinite Spirit himself, as its only adequate agency ; 
and the coming eternity for the full development of 
its issues! How little do we sympathize with God 
on that particular point on which, if on no other, 
the strongest bond of union might be supposed to 
exist; compassion for depraved, guilty, suffering souls. 
Who is there that makes the burden of a dying world 
his own? that goes about with u great heaviness and 
continual sorrow of heart,” oppressed and borne down 
by the weight of its woes ? Jesus wept over the guilt 
and obduracy of Jerusalem: who is there prepared 
to mingle their tears with his over the guilt and im¬ 
pending destruction of a thousand cities wholly given 
to idolatry ? Enoch and Noah, Abraham and Moses, 
David, and Jeremiah, and Paul, evinced the tenderness 
and depth of their compassion for men by tears, en¬ 
treaties, and unappeasable anguish of soul: who is 
there now that can say, u Rivers of waters run down 
mine eyes, because they keep not thy law ?” Who 
now is heard exclaiming, u Oh that my head were 
waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my 
people ?” Who now asseverates, u I could wish myself 
accursed from Christ for my brethren ?” 

And yet until we approach this state of sympathy 
with God on the spiritual and lofty character of Christian 
Missions, are we likely to be eminently devoted to 
their prosecution ? Will not comparatively trifling acts 
of service too readily satisfy our feeble sense of duty ? 

32* 


378 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


But what could appease the anxiety of him who was 
accustomed to stand in the counsels of God, and daily 
to look around on mankind from the moral elevation 
of the Cross, or to view them in the light of the judg¬ 
ment fires—what but his total consecration to the work 
of their rescue ? Were this state of mind to become 
general in the Church, one of its first effects would be 
that we should think much more highly and honourably 
than we now do of the Missionary character and office. 
Let a ship be perishing within sight of an assembled 
multitude on the shore, and let some of these volunteer 
an attempt to save the sinking crew; with what strained 
and earnest looks are they followed by those who have 
sent and cheered them off, and how deep and panting 
the desires for their success ? The Missionaries of 
the Cross, in the case supposed, would carry with them 
the sympathies of the Church. Their office would be 
regarded as the highest and holiest out of heaven. 
Selecting them, as we should, within the view and 
hearing of the perishing millions, how careful should 
we be, as far as it depended on us, that none but the 
most compassionate and devoted men went forth. The 
Saul and the Barnabas of each Christian Society would 
be deemed the most eligible to the office. And having 
despatched them, what holy anxieties would follow 
them ; and what earnest intercessions would ascend for 
their success at the footstool of grace ! Hitherto, the 
Christian Missionary may be said to have raised in- 
strumentally the character of the Church; but never 
till the Church, eminent in its devotedness, imparts its 
character to the Missionary, will the sympathy between 
them be complete ; and in order to this, we must 
appreciate more highly the spiritual nature of the work 
in which we are engaged. 

3. It must be obvious that whatever else may be 
necessary, a vivid and all-pervading apprehension of 
the Missionary constitution of the Christian Church , 
and of the corresponding obligations of each of its 
members , is of the first importance. “ But do not the 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


379 


various aggressive efforts recorded in the preceding 
pages show that we have already recovered that appre¬ 
hension ?” To a very limited extent. Until recently, 
the Christian Church was well nigh as local and sta¬ 
tionary as the Jewish. And is not the clear apprehen¬ 
sion of its Missionary design still confined to a small 
minority ? Or, if felt by the many, felt only as a 
passing impulse, the result of an annual appeal, rather 
than as a personal obligation and a universal principle ? 
Or, if felt as a claim, felt as one which may be easily 
devolved, and discharged by proxy ? 

Now the constitution of the Christian Church sup¬ 
poses that every individual member is prepared to take 
bis post as an agent for Christ. It does not allow 
the indolent to fold his arms, and transfer his duty 
to another. It does not permit the fashionable pro¬ 
fessor to w T ait till Christian labour becomes genteel. 
It does not permit the wealthy to buy off his personal 
services by the bribe of large donations. It requires 
both, his activity and his donations too. Whether it 
contains a man for every post or not, it is certain that 
it contains a post for every man; and hence the first 
inquiry which some Christian communities make of a 
newly admitted member is, u What shall your post be ?” 

Were the writer to be asked to what it was owing, 
chiefly, that the early triumphs of the Gospel were 
arrested—how it was that Christian usefulness died out 
of the world, and piety out of the Church—he would 
suggest that it was to be ascribed principally to that 
master-device of Satan by which the Christian professor 
was led to suppose that he could do every thing by 
proxy ; that there was an order of men on whom, for 
a certain consideration, he could devolve his duties both 
to God and to man. Now this we hardly need remind 
the reader is substantial Popery. The very essence of 
that system consists in undertaking to exempt its votaries 
from their personal responsibility—in finding a price 
for every duty, and a discharge from every claim of 
personal accountableness. We pride ourselves, indeed, 


380 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


in our Protestantism ; but if this representation of 
Popery be correct, it is high time to inquire from 
how much of that enormous system we have been 
rescued. For just as much of it as still cleaves to us, by 
just so much are we effectually disabled from doing the 
first works, and emulating the first days of the Christian 
Church. Now judging from the past we should say, 
that the Reformation rescued us from only one half of 
the evil—from that part which blinded men to a sense 
of their personal concern in the affairs of their own 
salvation. But while the Protestant wonders at the 
infatuation of the Papist in imagining that any thing 
can exempt him from the necessity o[ personal diligence 
in seeking his own salvation, are not we the objects of 
equal wonder in acting so generally as if we thought 
any thing could exempt us from the duty of personal 
activity in seeking the salvation of others ? If the one 
is essential Popery, equally so, in spirit, is the other 
also. Glorious, therefore, as the Reformation was for 
the Church , in rescuing its members from the grasp of 
a spiritual despotism, and making each one feel the 
necessity of personal faith and personal holiness, as 
glorious will that Reformation be for the world which 
shall complete the work of deliverance, by rescuing 
them also from the grasp of selfishness, and making each 
one feel his accountability to God for personal activity 
in the work of human salvation. 

But in order to this, the doctrine of individual Chris¬ 
tian obligation must be clearly understood, and gene¬ 
rally felt. Until the Christian sees that it is not 
rhetorically but most strictly true, that he is not his 
own , he will be often acting as if his own will were his 
only law. Even when he sees theoretically that he is 
the property of God, unless he remember, at the same 
time, the subduing nature of that price by which he 
has been bought, he will often act from a stern sense 
of duty instead of feeling constrained by the power of 
love; and will be tempted to reduce the amount of 
his service as much as he can, without refusing it 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


381 


entirely, instead of presenting himself a living sacrifice 
unto God. 

But even in addition to this, it is necessary that he 
should feel that he is redeemed for a specific end ; an 
end which leaves no moment of his time unclaimed, and 
no property of his nature untaxed. Never till every 
Christian feels himself as much ordained to diffuse the 
Gospel as the minister is ordained to preach it; never 
till every Church regards itself as a society organized 
expressly for that diffusion, will its members be aware 
of its vast capabilities, in the hand of God, for blessing 
the world! What but this feeling in the hearts of a 
few has originated all the Christian instrumentality, 
which at this moment is at w r ork ? And if a sense of 
responsibility for personal activity in only a few instances 
has led to so much, what might we not hope, under God, 
from the individual and united activity of the universal 
Church ! 

4. In order to maintain and enlarge our sense of 
Christian obligation, * Missionary information should be 
more widely circulated , and more seriously pondered. 
What Christian could be insensible either to his own 
obligations, or to the crying wants of the heathen, at the 
mouth of the pit of perdition ? Now the direct ten¬ 
dency of all the Missionary accounts of heathenism, 
when rightly considered, is to make us feel that around 
that gulf the idolatrous world is assembled, and that, 
but for the interposing grace of Christ, there should we 
have been mingled with them. We have admitted, 
indeed, in a previous page, that information from the 
Missionary field is periodically and increasingly diffused, 
and that a Missionary literature for the rising race is in 
the course of rapid formation ; nor can we fail to regard 
this as tending to the end at which we now aim. Our 
great concern is, that Christians generally would lay the 
moral statistics of the heathen world to heart; that they 
would not merely read a page or an anecdote now and 
then, but would regularly peruse a portion of the 
accounts transmitted as if indorsed by the hand of 


382 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


Providence for them, to be taken into the closet and 
read at the throne of grace. Mere cursory reading 
can only produce evanescent impressions. And hence, 
let the members of any Christian congregation, even 
of one assembled on a Missionary occasion, be taken 
and examined on the subject of Christian Missions— 
how small the number of those who could render an 
account of even the more recent and familiar facts in 
its history; and how much smaller the number of those 
who have so far made it a study as to have a single 
question to ask concerning it, or a single suggestion 
to offer for its improvement! 

And why is it thus ? And how long shall it remain ? 
Till we not merely listen to an occasional appeal on the 
subject, but take it in all its appalling magnitude into 
our stated and devout consideration before God. Till 
we read the history and geography of the heathen 
nations with a view to it, and study it in maps. Till we 
make it a standing topic of Christian conversation ; and, 
like the primitive saints, repair to the Missionary as¬ 
sembly with minds, not requiring additional excitement, 
but already filled with intense interest. Till we have 
laid the state of the heathen world upon our naked 
hearts, and vividly pictured its miseries to the eye of 
our mind, as an object at which habitually to gaze. 
Would the Almighty affect his prophet with the 
spiritual death of the Jewish nation ? He called him 
to look on a valley full of dry bones. Was the spirit 
of the apostle when at Athens, stirred within him ? it 
was when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 
Did Jesus weep over Jerusalen ? it was when he drew 
near and beheld the city. And if we would be duly 
impressed with the spiritual destitution of mankind, 
and with the consequent urgency of Missionary claims, 
we must look, and gaze , and dwell , on the subject. By 
a well known law of our nature, our eye will soon affect 
our heart; and, by a gracious law of the Divine econo¬ 
my, that compassionate emotion will be turned into 
practical effort and Missionary success. 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


383 


5. The preceding considerations suggest the existence 
of another want —a greater depth of personal piety. 
Fears are entertained by many Christians lest religion 
in the present day should be made to consist more in 
imparting than in receiving. While they would not 
have it less abroad for useful purposes, they question 
whether it is not too little at home. They are appre¬ 
hensive lest our spiritual expenditure should be exceed¬ 
ing our spiritual receipts. The ground of these fears 
may be right or wrong. If they arise from the idea that 
Christian activity and the growth of personal piety are 
naturally incompatible, so that attention to the one 
necessarily involves the proportionate neglect of the 
other, they are utterly unwarranted. For not only were 
the most active servants of God, as described in Scrip¬ 
ture, the most eminent for spirituality and devotion, but 
their very activity formed a part of the means by 
which their spirituality was sustained. If, however, 
those fears arise from the well known tendency of 
our nature to substitute a morality however ascetic, 
a ritual however irksome, or a philanthropy however 
costly, in the stead of personal piety, and to mistake it 
for piety, they are not unfounded. But whatever the 
grounds of fear, it cannot be denied, and need not be con¬ 
cealed, that the danger apprehended exists—the danger 
of religion losing in depth what it gains in surface. 

Nor do we fear lest, in saying this, we should damp 
the Missionary zeal of the Church. On the contrary, 
our aim is to render that zeal more scriptural and effect¬ 
ive ; for as long as it remains a principle of Divine 
appointment that personal piety is the proper foundation 
of relative usefulness, he who assists in raising the 
Church nearer to God, is enabling it to act more bene¬ 
ficially upon the world. Hence the wisdom of the 
inspired Psalmist in praying for the prosperity of the 
Church as preparatory to the conversion of the world : 
“God be merciful unto us, and bless us ; and cause his 
face to shine upon us: that thy way may be known 
upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” It is 


3S4 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


observable that while the calling of the apostles is 
placed, by one evangelist, in immediate connexion with 
the command that we pray the Lord of the harvest for 
an increase of labourers ;* it is described by another as 
immediately following a whole night spent by our blessed 
Lord in prayer to God ;f thus the foundation of Mission¬ 
ary activity was laid in the very element of prayer. It 
was when the apostles had been day after day u with one 
accord in one place” calling upon God, that they came 
forth to enjoy pentecostal successes, and to reap the field 
of the world. And as long as it is true that spiritual 
influences, like the water, which is their material em¬ 
blem, cannot rise above their own level, the higher their 
source, the wider will be their diffusion through the 
various channels of Christian activity. While this ac¬ 
tivity, by the occasions with which it will be constantly 
furnishing us for renewed application to God, will be 
the means of keeping us in habitual communication with 
the Fountain of spiritual life ; so that by action and reac¬ 
tion our piety will give activity to our benevolence, and 
our benevolence invigorate our piety. 

6. Were the preceding requisites supplied, one of the 
first effects apparent would he an increase of holy wisdom 
—wisdom to mark the characteristic features of the age 
and the movements of the world, to appreciate the pecu¬ 
liar position of the Church in relation to them, and to 
apprehend and obey the indications of God concerning 
them. The Saviour may be regarded as saying to 
his people ; but especially to his ministers, in every 
age, “Can ye not discern the signs of the times ?” 
Each period is preceded and attended with its own 
peculiar signs, and it is a part of their duty to mark 
them,—that to the inquiry of the Church, “ Watchman, 
what of the night ?” they might be able to return the 
correct and seasonable reply. Never was there an age 
when the wide field of human misery was so fully ex¬ 
plored, and so accurately measured, as at present; and 


* Matthew ix. 38; x. 1. 


f Luke vi. 12, 13. 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


385 


consequently there never was a time when the obliga¬ 
tion of the Christian Church to bring out all its Divine 
resources and remedies, was so pressing, and so great; 
hence the importance that its ministers should be pre¬ 
pared to bring forth the strong reasons of the Gospel 
for entire self-consecration. Never was there an age 
when science attempted so much and promised so largely 
—challenging the Gospel, in effect, to run with it a race 
of philanthropy ; and, consequently, never was there a 
time when it so much concerned the Church to vindicate 
her character as the true angel of mercy to the world ; 
and to do this, not by decrying the human expedients 
which unenlightened man employs, but by surpassing 
them in the strenuous application of God’s remedy. 
Never was there a time when the elements of universal 
society exhibited so much restlessness and change, 
and when the field of the world was so extensively 
broken up and ready for cultivation; and, consequently, 
never was there a time which so loudly called on the 
Christian sower to go forth and sow ; but as long as the 
labourers are comparatively few, a wise selection of the 
spheres to be occupied is of the first importance. And 
if there never was a time since the days of the apostles 
when the various sections of the Church were so aggres¬ 
sive in their movements, the obligation is proportionate 
on each community to mark the operation ot the others, 
not to envy, but to learn from their experience, and to 
emulate their excellence. 

To a mind alive to the erection of the kingdom of 
God in the earth, numerous questions of surpassing 
interest are always present. Some ot those which en¬ 
gaged the attention of the fathers of modern Missions, 
the events of providence have already answered and set 
at rest. Of those deserving consideration at present, we 
might specify such as these—whether or not the claims 
of the ancient people of God are engaging a sufficient 
measure of Christian attention ? Whether, considering 
the geographical position of Russia, stretching across 
the whole northern continent of Asia, from the banks of 


386 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


the Vistula to the shores of America, as the dominion 
of Britain stretches across the south, and thus having 
between it and us five-sixths of the heathen world— 
something should not be attempted towards purifying its 
Church, and rendering it a Missionary co-worker with 
ourselves for their salvation ? What the design of God 
may be in the remarkable distribution of Christian 
communities—old and corrupt though they be—all over 
the Mahometan empire ? Whether, without diminishing 
our endeavours for heathendom, more ought not to be 
done for Christendom ? What are the comparative 
claims of education and preaching in our Missionary 
operations ? whether sufficient importance is yet at¬ 
tached to the preparation of a native agency in the 
various parts of the Missionary field ? and whether the 
time has not come when the standard of education for 
our Missionaries might be advantageously raised, espe¬ 
cially in the department of science? These are only 
a few of a great number of topics of growing interest; 
most of which are likely, at no distant time, to force 
themselves on our attention in a manner for which 
present consideration, and devout inquiry of God, can 
alone prepare us. 

But if there never was a time when the great Mis¬ 
sionary subject teemed with more interesting inquiries, 
it is equally true, that never was there a land blessed 
with such peculiar facilities, as Britain, for answering 
those inquiries and for obeying the calls of Providence, 
to give the gospel to the world. Why is it that the 
Gospel is at this time in trust with a people whose 
ships cover the seas—who are the merchants of the 
world ? Has he who drew the boundaries of Judea 
with his own finger, who selected the precise spot for 
the temple, who did every thing for the Jewish Church 
with design , abandoned the Christian Church to acci¬ 
dent ? And if not,—if he has placed the Gospel among 
us with design, what can the nature of that design be, 
but that it should be borne to the world on the wings 
of every wind that blows ? Let us ask ourselves why 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


387 


it is that Britain and her religious ally, America, should 
divide the seas, and thus hold the keys of the world ? 
Were we but awake to the designs of God, and to 
our own responsibility, we should hear him say, CC I have 
put you in possession of the seas ; put the world in pos¬ 
session of my Gospel.” And every ship we sent out 
would be a Missionary Church—like the ark of the 
deluge, a floating temple of God—bearing in its bosom 
the seeds of a new creation. Ours is indeed a post of 
responsibility and of honour ! On us have accumulated 
all the advantages of the past, and on us lies the great 
stress of the present. The world is waiting breathless 
on our movements ; and every sign of Providence finds 
a voice to urge us on. 

And in saying that a Missionary Church to be effec¬ 
tive should be thus wise to mark and quick to avail itself 
of every providential indication, what are we saying, 
after all, but that God is conducting the affairs of the 
universe on a plan ; that in every age that plan advan¬ 
ces ; that his people are to mark the signs of that 
advance and to fall in with it; and that in proportion 
as they adjust their movements to his, link themselves on 
to his plans, and keep pace with his progress, they move 
with the force of Omnipotence simply by moving in a 
line and in harmony with it. Oh, for celestial wisdom 
to place ourselves in harmony with Providence, and to 
seize the crisis which has come for blessing the world ! 

7. One of the first wants which that wisdom, of which 
we have been speaking, would discover, and one of the 
first steps to which it would lead, would be a spirit of 
greater devotedness to the Missionary work among minis¬ 
ters at home. If a considerable number of those who 
are now preparing for the Christian ministry, and of 
those who have already entered the sacred office, were 
to devote themselves, as one man, to the spiritual rescue 
of the heathen, who can calculate the impulse which 
would be given to the general cause of religion ? What 
exalted piety would it evince; and what an increase of 
energy and devotion would it tend to call forth! No 


388 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


fear need be entertained for the safely of the work at 
home ; the spiritual efficiency of those who would find 
it obligatory to remain at their present post would be 
increased in a far greater ratio than the numerical reduc¬ 
tion of their ranks ; many a youth now devoted to 
secular pursuits would give himself up to the service 
of God ; and, more than all, the act would discover so 
high a degree of devotedness to God, that he would be 
able, consistently with his character, to say in acts of 
unusual blessing, what he has already declared in words 
of promise, “ them that honour me, I will honour.” 

There is reason to fear that, at present, the number 
of ministers adequately acquainted with the Missionary 
aspect of the Church, and interested in it, is compara¬ 
tively small ; that the subject is introduced to the at¬ 
tention of the people too exclusively at stated times, 
on annual occasions, and in connexion with pecuniary 
collections ; and too seldom as forming a legitimate 
topic of ordinary ministerial discourse, and to every 
part of which the heart of the Church should be sup¬ 
posed to be ever ready to vibrate and respond. And 
yet to this advocacy, partial and feeble though it be, it 
is owing, under God, that the Missionary enterprise 
has risen to its present position in the Church ; what, 
then, might we not hope to see result were deeds 
added to words, and personal devotement to argu¬ 
ments and professions ! Let them be respectfully re¬ 
minded that besides their special relation to their respect¬ 
ive churches, they and their churches sustain a universal 
relation ; that the Gospel they preach embraces all in¬ 
terests ; that the pulpit they occupy stands, in a sense, 
in the centre of the universe ; that there are lines of 
relationship connecting it with every object and event 
within that vast circumference ; that they are placed in 
that central position to watch and report to their people 
the progress of events, to impress on them the dignity 
and responsibility of their character as the agents of 
ct Him for whom are all things, and by r whom are all 
thingsand thus to induce them as their highest 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


389 


honour and happiness, to fall in with that vast proces¬ 
sion, including all orders and all worlds, which even 
now is moving on to the one appointed spot, where all 
the diadems of the universe shall be laid at the feet of 
Him on whose head already are many crowns. u This 
is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop he 
desireth a good work;” but let them remember that he 
who said this, regarded a participation in the work of 
Missions as a higher distinction still : u Unto me, who 
am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, 
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearch¬ 
able riches of Christ.” Let them estimate the Mission¬ 
ary office as highly as he did, and remember how much 
may depend on their adoption of it; much in the 
Church, for while the private Christian is to be an 
example to the world, they are to be u an ensample to 
the flock”—a model among models ; and much in the 
world ; for their central station and official character 
invest them with influence which render their every 
movement an object of interest to superior beings, and 
which, in reference to the heathen world, may implicate 
the everlasting welfare of myriads. Only let these con¬ 
siderations be devoutly laid to heart, and many a minister 
who now supposes himself bound to remain at home 
would be heard saying, u Here am I, send me ;” others, 
who could not go abroad, would become Missionaries 
at home ; while the Church generally would find her 
highest interests benefited, as much as by any event 
which has occurred since apostolic days. 

8. Another requisite is Christian union. We have 
already intimated that it is very much owing to the fra¬ 
ternal influence shed on the various denominations of 
Christians by Missionary and kindred operations, that 
even a vestige of visible union remains. And how is it 
that on particular occasions we are induced to quit our 
denominational camps, and to proclaim the truce of 
God ? By paying greater deference to the will of Christ 
than to the claims of party ; by looking out on a world 
perishing ; by erecting the Cross for its salvation, and 
33 * 


390 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


rallying around it; in a word, by reverting practically 
to the primary design of the Church. Who has not 
been ready to say at such times, Would that the whole 
Church could be converted into a Christian Missionary 
Society, and meet in that capacity alone ! 

The union wanted is not the union of one day in a 
year, but the union of every day ; not the hollow friend¬ 
ship which merely forbears to misrepresent or to injure 
those who u follow not with us,” but the Christian sym¬ 
pathy which sincerely mingles alike in their sorrows and 
their joys ; not merely a oneness of purpose, but, as far as 
practicable, a union of means for the attainment of that 
purpose. One Church abounds more, it may be, in the 
zeal which burns for active exertion ; another, in the 
wisdom which is profitable to direct; and a third, in the 
funds which are necessary to support the holy war. 
Here, sympathy with each other’s wants, by uniting 
their respective means, would happily supply them all ; 
while a spirit of division makes that which is already 
little, still less. u One rule of action there is,” says a 
distinguished American Missionary—Abeel— u which, if 
observed by all sects, would result in the greatest benefit 
to the Church and the world. It involves no sacrifice 
of parly interests, and it is the only plan which, while 
Christians remain in distinct communities, does not 
sacrifice the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom to 
mere sectarian aggrandizement. In selecting their 
spheres of action, let each denomination pass by the 
place already occupied, and fix upon those where their 
services are most needed. Let it be a mutual under¬ 
standing that if education or predilection dispose the 
inhabitants of any part of a country to a particular sect, 
all others will yield the ground. What endless collision 
and confusion this would prevent! what desirable con¬ 
sequences it would produce ! If the attention of Chris¬ 
tians could only be diverted from each other, and from 
the places already occupied, and fixed in deep compas¬ 
sion upon the destitute parts of the world, how soon 
their dying fellow men in every land would feel the 
quickening influence!” 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


391 


It is in vain to plead the beneficial rivalry of sects. 
This only shows that we are so much accustomed to our 
divisions, that we can see beauty in that which forms 
our deformity and disgrace. But let us see the natural 
fruits of past divisions in the fact that Mahometanism, 
Popery, and Irreligion, still divide the civilized world 
between them; that reformed Christianity finds, on 
numbering her followers, that she still stands in an insig¬ 
nificant minority. And are we to suppose that what has 
hitherto proved the curse of the Church, is now converted 
into a blessing? A spirit of disunion is still dishonour¬ 
ing Christianity in the eyes of the world. By confirm¬ 
ing the irreligious in their impiety, disheartening the 
sincere inquirer after the truth, and blinding numbers 
with the idea that the sectarian spirit is true piety, it is 
still ruinous to the souls of men ; by dividing our limited 
instrumentality at home, and tending to counteract our 
Christian influence abroad, and, incomparably more than 
all, by grieving the Holy Spirit of God, it is still en¬ 
feebling and endangering our Missionary operations, 
and delaying the conversion of the world. It is in vain 
to say that but little disagreement exists as yet among 
our Christian agents abroad ; the seeds of discord only 
ask for lime, and they will not fail to bear their proper 
fruit. It is in vain to urge, that good is done notwith¬ 
standing our disunion, the partial good which is effected 
abroad, is effected by merging the disputes at home— 
in fact, by uniting—or by pretending to a degree of 
fraternity which the relative state of parties at home will 
not justify. And would not a knowledge of our differ¬ 
ences there be to a great extent fatal to our usefulness ? 
Would it not shake the confidence of the religious 
noviciate there; and embroil the Churches, and cover 
the breast of the idolater with an additional coat of 
resistance to the arrows of the Lord; and arm the 
Brahmin, the sceptic, and every hostile hand with a new r 
weapon of attack ? 

On the other hand, how greatly would the mutual 
regard and sympathetic co-operation of which we speak, 


392 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


tend to increase our capacity for Missionary usefulness! 
By promoting our own piety and happiness; for, having 
ceased from the comparative trifles which now vex 
and engross us, we should feel more than ever the force 
of high and ennobling motives; breath, now w 7 asted 
in controversy, would be turned into the incense of 
prayer; and the only spirit invoked in the Church 
would be the Spirit of grace. By the increase of sanc¬ 
tified agency which it would set at liberty from the 
present imprisonment of controversy, and send forth 
into tire field of the world. By a wise combination 
of means, so that resources which, divided, are not 
equal to the religious cultivation of a district, would, 
when united, be equal to an attempt on a continent. 
By affecting the public mind, and preparing the world 
to yield to the claims of the Son of God; for Christian 
union is not merely a Scripture doctrine ; its practical 
and visible exhibition is evidently intended, according 
to the prayer of Christ, to be the grand means for the 
conversion of the world, and a leading design of the 
Christian dispensation. Such a Union, therefore, as 
that of which we speak, would humbly challenge his 
blessing, for it would be a substantial fulfilment of his 
prayer. And, then, how directly would it increase the 
capacity of Christians for usefulness, by increasing their 
capacity for the reception and co-operations of that 
Holy Spirit, who alone can crown their activity with 
success. 

In order that the slain in the valley of vision might 
become an efficient body, it w 7 as necessary, not only 
that life should enter into each separately, they must 
fall into order with a view to the union and organization 
of the whole; and then, as an exceeding great army, a 
skilful commander alone was wanting to lead them forth 
to conquest. The leader of the hosts of God is already 
wailing. Let them be not only compact in their several 
sections, but let those sections be united with each 
other, and as one body he will lead them forth, u terrible 
as an army with banners.” Nothing shall be too great 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


393 


for them to attempt; and every conflict shall be a 
victory. 

9. And is not greater pecuniary liberality icantcd? 
To assert, indeed, that it is not already on the increase, 
would only evince insensibility to the obvious facts we 
ourselves have adduced, and ingratitude to the great 
Head of the Church. But while the increase of funds 
which our great benevolent institutions have almost 
annually to announce, concurs, with other circumstances, 
to show that the Church is not only dissatisfied with its 
past parsimony, but is gradually awaking to the claims 
of Christian liberality, we can regard them as little more 
than indications of improvement. 

Nearly all the great defects in the charity of the 
Christian Church remain, with very slight modifications. 
It still waits for impulses and appeals. It wants calcu¬ 
lation, proportion, and self-denial. It does not keep 
pace with the growing demands of the kingdom of 
Christ. It wants principle and plan. The great cur¬ 
rent of Christian property is as yet undiverted from its 
worldly channel. Many of the scanty rills of charity 
which at present water the garden of the Lord, are 
brought and kept there only by great ingenuity and 
effort. Here and there an individual is to be found 
who economises his resources that he may employ them 
for God ; but the very admiration in which such an one 
is held in his circle implies that he stands there alone. 
In which of the sections of the Christian Church shall 
we find a spirit of worldly self-indulgence to be only 
the exception, and a spirit of self-denying benevolence 
the rule ? How small, it is to be feared, is the number 
of those who really and practically believe that “it is 
more blessed to give than to receiveor who truly act 
on the principle, that they hold their property in trust 
for God ! And hence, is it not the fact that our very 
success in the cause of God is, in an important sense, 
found inconvenient and burdensome ? Do we not, con¬ 
sequently, stand disqualified for extensive usefulness ? 
Is not the great Head of the Church himself placed 


394 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


under a moral restraint from employing and blessing 
us only in a very limited degree ? A covetous, self- 
indulgent community ! how can he consistently employ 
such to convert the world; especially, too, as that con¬ 
version includes a turning from selfishness ? Not, 
indeed, that his cause is necessarily dependent for suc¬ 
cess on our liberality: and perhaps, when his people 
shall be so far constrained by his love, as to place their 
property at his disposal, he may most convincingly show 
them that he has never been dependent on it, by com¬ 
pleting his kingdom without it. But while he chooses 
to work by means, those means must be in harmony 
with his own character, and with the character of the 
Christian dispensation ; and what is that character, but 
self-denying, infinite benevolence ? 

It is recorded to the high honour of certain ancient 
believers, that u God was not ashamed to be called their 
God.” So plainly did they “ declare that they sought 
a better country, that is a heavenly,” and so entirely 
did they live for his glory, that he could point the 
attention of the world to them with divine complacency ; 
he could entrust his character in their hands ; he could 
leave the world to infer what he was, from what they 
were ; he was content to be judged of by the conduct 
of his people. Could he leave his character to be 
inferred from the conduct of his people now ? Is there 
anything, for instance, in the manner and extent of 
their liberality, which would remind the world of his 
vast unbounded benevolence ? They know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for 
our sakes he became poor, that they through his poverty 
might be made rich ; but from what part of their 
conduct would the world ever learn this melting truth ? 
No, in this respect he is ashamed to be called their 
God. Their self-indulgence misrepresents his self-sacri¬ 
fice. Their worldly spirit of appropriation is a shame 
to his boundless beneficence. His character is falsi¬ 
fied by them in the eyes of the world. Nor could he 
honour them in any distinguished manner before the 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


395 


world, without indorsing and confirming that falsifica¬ 
tion of his character. He is yearning for the happiness 
of the perishing world ; but such, at present, is the 
nature of his divine arrangements, that he has only 
the instrumentality of his people to work by, and that is 
so steeped in selfishness, that his grace may be said to be 
held under restraint. 

Now the liberality wanted is that which originates 
in Christian principle. As long as it is subjected to 
any inferior motives, its defects will be numerous, un¬ 
avoidable, fatal. It will think highly of its smallest 
gifts ; will be unduly influenced by the conduct of 
others ; will wait for public excitement ; and will ever 
be in danger of diminution, and even of total cessation. 
Nothing but a deep and abiding conviction of our vast, 
solemn, subduing obligations to God in Christ, can ever 
insure that cordial and entire consecration of our pro¬ 
perty, which his Divine commands, and the necessities 
of his cause, imperatively require. By taking the 
Christian to the Cross, and keeping him there in the 
presence of the great Sacrifice, he is made to feel that 
he is not his own, that his costliest offering, could he 
multiply its value a thousand fold, would be utterly un¬ 
worthy of Divine acceptance ; and if called to pour 
forth his blood as a libation on the altar of Christian 
sacrifice, he would regard it as an ample explanation of 
his conduct, to say, with an apostle, u the love of Christ 
constraineth us.” 

The liberality wanted is that which provides itself 
with regular resources by acting on a plan. Business 
plans and systematizes in order to gain ; covetousness 
schemes for selfish purposes ; why should the cause of 
Christian benevolence alone be left to the uncertainty 
of impulses, and to the mercy of what the world may 
chance to have left ? “ Upon the first day of the week, 

let every one of you,” says the apostle, “ lay by him 
in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no 
gatherings when I come.” Acting in the spirit of 
this direction, we should statedly invite the Divine 


396 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


presence, so to speak, to audit the accounts of our 
worldly affairs ; our offerings would be presented with 
cheerfulness because coming from a fund designed ex¬ 
pressly to no other end than charity ; and the cause of 
benevolence, no longer dependent on precarious alms, 
would be welcomed and honoured as an authorized 
claimant, a Divine creditor; while what we retained 
for our own use would be divinely blest by the dedica¬ 
tion of the rest to God. 

According to the apostolic language just quoted, the 
liberality of the Christian should be distinguished not 
only by plan, but also by proportion. In assisting him 
to determine the amount of that proportion, the only 
step which the Gospel takes is to point him to the 
Cross of Christ; and, while his eye is fixed there in 
admiring love, to say, u Ye know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ;” u Freely ye have received, freely give.” 
And can he, after that, experience any difficulty in 
deciding the proportion to be made sacred to God ? 
Surely, he would rather exceed than fall short of the 
exact amount. With whom is he stipulating ? For 
whom is he preparing the offering? Well may the 
recollection put every selfish thought to flight; tinging 
his cheek with shame at the bare possibility of ingrati¬ 
tude ; and impelling him to lay down his all at the feet 
of Christ. Only let him pass near the Cross on his way 
to the altar of oblation, and he will not be long lost in 
the question of proportion ; his only subject of anxiety 
will be that his richest offering should be so utterly 
unworthy. II poor, he will soon detect some small 
superfluity which can be retrenched, or some leisure 
time which can be profitably employed, u Working 
with his hands the thing which is good, that he may 
have to give to him that needeth.” If rich, he will not, 
cannot be satisfied with the gift of money merely, how¬ 
ever large the amount; the cause of Christ will have 
his activity and his sacrifices also. Yes, the liberality 
wanted is that which gives, not a little from much, 
but much from a little; that which shall induce the 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


397 


wealthy Christian parent to offer up his pious son on 
the Missionary altar, and to lay beside him, at the 
same time, whatever may be necessary to make the ob¬ 
lation complete; that which shall constrain the wealthy 
Christian to ascend that altar himself, taking with him 
all he has, and offering the whole as a Missionary obla¬ 
tion to God. 

In other w r ords, the liberality wanted at the present 
crisis, is the liberality of Christian self-denial. And, 
here, we would not be understood to mean that the 
Gospel requires that every Christian should, at all 
times, be found in a state of voluntary and comfortless 
poverty. Were the thousand drains of selfishness cut 
off, the cause of Christ would find an abundance from 
his friends, and would leave an abundance to them all. 
When every Christian brings his all to Christ, every 
Christian will be able to take away with him again an 
ample supply for his most comfortable subsistence. 
But till then, is it not the duty of every one who would 
be deemed benevolent to institute the momentous in¬ 
quiry which the Church is now more than ever called 
on to decide—whether, under existing circumstances, 
there can be any Christian benevolence without self- 
denial ? Does not the Church itself require to be 
moved by examples of self-denial ? Do not the very 
terms of Christian discipleship include a readiness to lay 
down life itself, if required, for the sake of the Gos¬ 
pel ? Is not the teeming population of many a heathen 
district perishing at this moment in ignorance of Christ, 
because Christians will not lay down—not life—but 
some of its superfluities ? And yet are these Christians 
living around the Cross, in sight of the crucifixion ; 
and ever ready to acknowledge that they are bound by 
their obligations to it, to withhold nothing they possess, 
that has in it the least tendency to draw the world to 
the same centre! 

Nor can we be supposed to imply, after what we 
have already said, that the Christian cause is originally 
and necessarily dependent for success on the property 

34 



398 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


of the Church. God, however, has been pleased to 
employ the instrumentality of his people for the con¬ 
version of the world ; the value of that instrumentality 
depends entirely on its moral character ; and that cha¬ 
racter, to be acceptable to God, must be perfectly con¬ 
genial with his own character. Now it is worthy of 
attentive regard that while he has thus made the duty 
of giving imperative, he has taken away all pretext for 
supposing that it is necessary on any other account 
than as an exhibition of Christian principle, by making 
its usefulness to depend, not on the amount given, but 
on the spirit and entireness of the gift, so that were 
the amount of our contributions, on the one hand, to 
be multiplied from thousands to millions, that alone 
would not entitle us to look for an increase of useful¬ 
ness. Success is not to be purchased. That no in¬ 
crease of good would arise from such multiplication we 
dare not affirm ; for we know not the plenitude of 
sovereign grace. But that no promise in the Bible 
would entitle us to look for it, we do affirm. Success 
is there promised, not to acts, but to the Christian prin¬ 
ciples whence those acts should flow. And hence, on 
the other hand, were our contributions a thousand times 
less than they are, that alone would not warrant us 
to apprehend a decrease of usefulness. The question 
would still return, what is the character of our liberal¬ 
ity ? Does it partake of the unworldly and self-deny¬ 
ing character of the Cross ? We ask not the amount 
of what the Church has given, but how much it has 
kept back for mere self-indulgence? We ask not, 
how many agents of mercy have been sent forth, but 
also how many more might, and therefore ought to 
have been sent forth ; but which through our selfish¬ 
ness have been kept unemployed ? What we have 
left undone owing to our worldliness, has an influ¬ 
ence as positive as that which we have done ; and 
the only influence which it can have is to weaken 
the effect of our actual efforts. In the eyes of the 
world it convicts us of gross inconsistency, and thus 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


399 


directly tends to neutralize the influence which belongs 
to Christian character. And, in relation to God, it 
suspends the shower of his blessing, and allows us only 
a few prelusive drops ; for how could he distinguish 
with his copious blessing a liberality which puts off his 
cause with merely a few of the drops of its superfluity, 
without exposing his own glorious character to the 
suspicion of inconsistency ? 

The liberality wanted, then, is, not that empty bene¬ 
volence which makes no retrenchments, takes no pains, 
costs neither effort nor sacrifice ; but that which, ac¬ 
tuated by the love of Christ, plans, proportions, and 
adds to its superfluities the precious savings of self- 
denial. And the principal ground on which we urge 
it is, that it is the only liberality congenial with the 
character of Christ, and therefore the only liberality 
which he can consistently honour, to any great extent, 
with his blessing. Till this comes, the great shower of 
his blessing will not come. But when it does, what can 
stand before a spirit which evinces a readiness to give 
up all for Christ; for the Spirit without measure will 
come with it. The world will behold in such conduct 
an argument for the reality and power of the Gospel 
which it could not misunderstand, could not gainsay. 
u God, even our own God shall bless us, 55 shall glory 
to own such a people before the eyes of the world— 
“ God shall bless us,” and, as a consequence, u all 
the ends of the earth shall fear him.” 

10. The Christian principle which originates the 
liberality wanted would not stop here, but would pro¬ 
ceed to supply another important want —the Christian 
agency of Missionary laymen. No reason, except our 
defective devotedness to Christ, can be assigned, why 
the wealthy Christian should so generally confine his 
Missionary instrumentality to the mere act of giving 
money ; why he should not himself accompany the Mis¬ 
sionary preacher; why he should not select for his resi¬ 
dence some unenlightened region, and take with him 
u a man of God” to be the ministerial instructor of 


400 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


his own family, and the Missionary of the district 
around; why the Christian female, whom God has pre¬ 
pared for Missionary usefulness, should not emulate 
u those women who laboured in the Gospel,” in apos¬ 
tolic days ; or why the colonization of heathen districts 
should not be attempted by the settlement of Christian 
societies. 

It cannot be alleged in excuse, that there are no 
persons eligible for such a duty. There is many a 
Christian at this moment who possesses an affluent pro¬ 
portion of independent property ; who has no indis¬ 
soluble ties which bind him to his native land; who can 
occasionally leave that land for a continental excursion ; 
who is often at a loss for occupation ; and who con¬ 
sequently spends much of his time in a way which 
absolutely endangers bis piety. It cannot be said that 
there are no places eligible in heathen lands for such 
to reside in. There are many situations in the British 
colonies and dependencies, at least, where they would 
find salubrity, security, and as many of the comforts 
of life, as those can consistently desire to possess who 
profess to be the followers of Him who had not where 
to lay his head, and whose treasure is in heaven. Nor 
can it be alleged, that the preaching of the Gospel is 
the only instrumentality required for the heathen ; or 
that the effect of the addition of lay agency would be 
experimental and uncertain. u I have scarcely been 
in a foreign port,” says the American Missionary already 
quoted, the Rev. D. A heel, u where I have not met 
with men from Christian lands engaged in business. 
These persons are found wherever they can reap ad¬ 
vantage from their w r orldly professions. After remaining 
some time in a place, they not only feel themselves 
at home, but are regarded, by those around them, as 
naturalized citizens. They gain the confidence of the 
natives, and become influential. They are looked up 
to with respect, and their opinions are sought for with 
avidity. I have been in countries where these persons 
had become so popular, as to receive from royalty 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


401 


itself marks of honourable distinction. Now, the Mis¬ 
sionaries have often inquired, why Christian merchants 
and mechanics might not pursue the same course of 
life, from the motive of glorifying their Redeemer, and 
benefiting their fellow-men. They could certainly en¬ 
gage in the same employments ; they might probably 
secure the same confidence ; and, at the same time, they 
could make all their relations and honours subservient 
to the progress of Christianity. I have known a few 
persons in heathen countries who acted on high reli¬ 
gious principles, and it is impossible to tell how much 
good they accomplished. It is not only their personal 
exertions which render them useful, but the counte¬ 
nance and assistance they lend the Missionaries. It is 
in this last-mentioned respect, that their presence and 
influence are exceedingly desirable. Being on the spot, 
and acquainted with every event which occurs, they 
not only become greatly interested in the salvation of 
the heathen, but are prepared to improve every oppor¬ 
tunity for its promotion. For my own part, I cannot 
doubt that Christian communities among the heathen 
would produce the most desirable effects. 5 ’ Such a 
community, by necessarily employing a number of na¬ 
tives, would be placing them in the best situation for 
the reception of Christian instruction ; by merely re¬ 
lieving the Missionary from secular cares, they would 
be setting at liberty a considerable proportion of his 
time and powers for spiritual duties ; by Christian 
tuition, visiting, conversation, and the distribution of 
religious books, they would greatly multiply his means 
of usefulness ; and by embodying and exhibiting before 
the heathen, as a Christian Church, the benign and 
elevating influence of the Gospel, they would be con¬ 
straining observers to glorify their Father who is in 
heaven. 

The same excellent Missionary bears testimony to 
the invaluable influence of Christian female teachers 
in heathen lands. But to form an idea of their useful¬ 
ness, he observes, u it is necessary to be a witness to 
34 * 


402 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


their habitual engagements;” and expresses it as his 
opinion, formed from extensive intercourse with Mis¬ 
sionaries, that woman is as indispensable to the suc¬ 
cessful operation of Missions, as she is to the well-being 
of society in Christian lands. 

Now let the wealthy Christian bear in mind that by 
going and personally co-operating with the Christian 
Missionary, the cause of Christ among the heathen 
might receive not merely the advantage of his own 
time, and wealth, and influence; he might be honoured 
of God in filling a wide sphere with the agency of 
Christian women also; and might, in various ways, 
eminently promote the interests of Christian coloniza¬ 
tion. 

No good or useful act terminates in itself; and his 
example could not fail, by the Divine blessing, cc to 
provoke very many.” Why, then, should he decline 
this proof of his devotedness to Christ ? It cannot be 
because it is impracticable; for the Christian Mis¬ 
sionary has gone before him, and is calling him to 
follow. He would not plead that it is because he 
has wealth, for that increases his responsibility ; so that 
instead of acting as a golden chain to bind him here, 
it should be rather converted into wings to bear him 
u far hence among the Gentiles.” Had he never pos¬ 
sessed that wealth, he himself might possibly have been 
a laborious Missionary; and surely he does not imagine 
that his wealth was meant to diminish his usefulness by 
detaining him in self-enjoyment at home. He cannot 
plead that the state of the heathen does not require it; 
for, let him know that if he will “retire to enjoy life,” 
he retires amidst the cries and shrieks of a world pe¬ 
rishing in its guilt. He will not say that his obligations 
to Christ do not demand it; for he daily acknowledges 
they might at any time justly require the sacrifice of 
life itself. Nor can he urge that it is not necessary, 
in order to demonstrate his devotedness to Christ; for 
the question is, whether his disinclination to take this 
step does not arise from his very want of devotedness ? 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


403 


The sum which he contributes may be only serving 
to conceal his want of zeal for the active service of 
Christ; so that his personal consecration to Christ as 
a Missionary layman, may be just the very kind of 
evidence yet wanting and indispensably necessary to 
establish the fact of his love to Christ. 

11. Now from the wants already named, it is evident 
that, as a Missionary Church, we pre-eminently need 
an increase of energy and zeal. He must be ignorant 
indeed who does not know that rashness often passes 
for zeal, and that the path of wisdom lies between a 
blind impetuosity on the one hand, and a cold calcu¬ 
lating policy on the other. But blind must he be 
also not to perceive that much in the Christian Church, 
at present, which assumes the name of prudence, is 
timidity and unbelief in disguise. In reference to its 
financial affairs, for instance, were all the maxims of 
worldly caution to be adduced in connexion with all 
the promises of God addressed to a generous, enter¬ 
prising, and open-handed faith, how much easier it 
would be to harmonize them with those maxims than 
with these promises ! The spirit of commercial enter¬ 
prise, the ardour of scientific pursuit, or the heroism 
of adventurous research, takes men annually by hun¬ 
dreds into the regions of pestilence, or storm, or eternal 
ice; but no sooner does a Christian minister leave 
home for a foreign field of labour, than, as if a miracle 
of self-sacrifice had taken place, a claim is set up in 
his behalf for the universal sympathy of the Church. 
Judging from the history of the Church, we have every 
thing to hope from bold measures; but judging from 
our own conduct, we have every thing to fear from 
them. u Prove me now,” saith God, u whether I will 
not open the windows of heaven to bless you but 
who thinks of accepting the gracious challenge ? Does 
not our conduct, in effect, reproach the first Mis¬ 
sionaries ; and charge the confessors and reformers of 
later days with guilty rashness ? If we are only 
prudent, what were they ? And yet we profess to 


404 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


admire their deeds; boast of being their spiritual de¬ 
scendants ; and acknowledge that we owe every thing, 
under God, to their boldness, fidelity, and zeal. Does 
not the conduct of the great majority of Christians at 
home, reproach even the labourers who are at present 
in the Missionary field ? For if those are right, must 
not these be wrong ? If the reasons which those assign 
in justification of their course are to be held decisive, 
then have these laid themselves open to the charge of 
rash and inconsiderate zeal. 

And yet who does not feel that theirs is the zeal 
we want ? the zeal of a Paul and the first disciples; 
of a Luther and the early Reformers; of an Eliot and 
our first Missionaries ; a zeal which would startle the 
Church, and even be stigmatized by thousands of its 
members—for what zeal has not been ? zeal that would 
be content to be appreciated by the Christians of an¬ 
other generation. The zeal wanted is that which, 
while it invites prudence to be of its council, would 
not allow her to reign; and which, while it would 
economize its means and provide for real evils, w T ould 
gather incitement to increased activity from the ob¬ 
stacles lying in its way—the zeal of our momentary 
but strongest impulses made perpetual. The energy 
we want is that which springs from sympathy with the 
grandeur of our theme, the dignity of our office, and 
the magnificence of the Missionary enterprise. Oh, 
where is the spiritual perception that looks forth on the 
world as the great scene of a moral conflict, and beholds 
it under the stirring aspect which it presents to the 
beings of other worlds ? Where are the kindled eye 
and the beaming countenance, and the heart bursting 
with the momentous import of the Gospel message ? 
Where the fearlessness and confidence whose very tones 
inspire conviction, and carry with them all the force of 
certainty, and the weight of an oath ? Where the zeal 
which burns with its subject, as if it had just come 
from witnessing the crucifixion, and feels its theme with 
all the freshness and force of a new revelation ? The 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


405 


zeal which during its intervals of labour, repairs to the 
mount of vision to see the funeral procession of six 
hundred millions of souls ? to the mouth of perdition 
to hear voices of all these saying, as the voice of one 
man, u Send to our brethren, lest they also come into 
this place of torment ?” to Calvary, to renew its vigour 
by touching the Cross ? Enthusiasm is sobriety here. 
In this cause, the zeal of Christ consumed him; his 
holiest ministers have become flames of fire; and, as 
if all created ardour were insufficient, here infinite zeal 
finds scope to burn ; u for the zeal of the Lord of hosts 
shall perform it.” 

12. And where is this flame to be kindled— where is 
the live coal to he obtained , hut from off the altar ? It 
was there that the servants of God in every age found it, 
and there they kept it bright and burning. It was there 
that Christ himself sustained that zeal, in the flames of 
which he at last ascended as a sacrifice to God. And it 
is only in proportion as we are found at the same altar 
of devotion, that we can hope to imbibe his spirit, or to 
enjoy the honour of advancing his cause. 

But it may be asked, Has not a spirit of supplication, 
of late years, distinguished the churches of Christ? 
Notwithstanding what we have said of a congratulatory 
nature on Missionary meetings for prayer, in a pre¬ 
ceding page, we feel bound to reply—only very par¬ 
tially ; whereas the prayer wanted is universal: only 
very feebly—whereas the prayer wanted is the effectual, 
fervent prayer, which availeth much: only by uncer¬ 
tain fits—whereas the prayer needed is the continuous, 
unbroken, persevering cry of importunity: only the 
prayer of party—(effects prove it) whereas the prayer 
required is the prayer of “all, with one accord.” 

Prayer, indeed, is always indispensable. It brings 
us to the one spot, and keeps us in the only place 
in the universe which properly belongs to us—at the 
feet of God. It tends to annihilate self; amounts to a 
confession of our utter dependence upon God ; renders 
appropriate homage to his greatness ; and thus keeps us 


406 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


in constant and active communication with the Foun¬ 
tain of grace. 

There are times, however, when the duty of prayer 
becomes unusually urgent. If, for instance, a period 
should arrive in which the philosophy and the philan¬ 
thropy of this world should profess to be aiming at hu¬ 
man happiness, in common with the Gospel, and should 
consequently appear to be almost identified with it, how 
important that the Church should affirm the essential 
difference between these agencies—the one expecting 
the renovation of society from human means alone, the 
other relying supremely on the power of God as indis¬ 
pensable to success. But how can Christians visibly 
and directly vindicate the Divine honour in this respect, 
except as they are known to be in the habit of ap¬ 
pealing to that power, and importunately invoking the 
Divine interposition ? Now such a period is the present. 
The world is teeming with projects for the amelioration 
of the race, and is full of expectation from the future. 
But though it is thus looking, at length, in the same 
direction as the Church, far di fib rent are the specific 
objects at which they aim, and the principal means they 
employ. u Our hope is in God.” But this we can 
make apparent only by evincing our dependence on him 
in prayer. We are to show that in this vital respect we 
are at issue with a sceptical philosophy at the very out¬ 
set ; that while prayer is the last instrument which the 
world would employ, we not only employ, but rely on 
it ; and that we place it, in the order of means, as first 
and best. It is in this way alone that we can practically 
rebuke the pride of man ; proclaim the utter insuffi¬ 
ciency of mere human means to renovate the world; and 
claim for God the glory due unto his name. 

If, again, a period should come in which the Church 
should be quickened into general activity for the good 
of the world, the only way in which the great mass of 
the partially enlightened could be preserved from the 
danger of relying unduly on that activity would be by 
their being kept in the posture of humble acknowledg- 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


407 


raent and earnest prayer. Now such a season of grow¬ 
ing activity has arrived; and such a danger has doubt¬ 
less come with it; and the more that activity increases, 
the greater our liability to rest in it, to the guilty exclu¬ 
sion of Him who alone can render it useful. This, in¬ 
deed, does not imply that we are to do less, but to pray 
more. The greater the sacrifice laid on the altar, the 
stronger the flame necessary to consume it. We are to 
remember that He whom we serve is jealous for his 
honour; that he regards every power in the universe as 
more or less opposed to him, but the power of prayer, 
and the means which prayer has sanctified ; that he 
views it as an attempt to do without him; as a hostile 
endeavour to contravene the great principle of the 
Gospel of Christ — u that not by might, nor by power, 
but by his Spirit alone,” the maladies of the world shall 
be healed. If we look into the censer of the “ angel 
standing at the golden altar which is before the throne,” 
and if we there mark what it is of all human instru¬ 
mentality which ascends to heaven, we shall find that 
it is only that which is sanctified by prayer. When the 
clamours of a prayerless zeal have subsided; and the 
undevout deeds which have dazzled and astounded men 
have spent their force, let us mark what is left in the 
censer—only that which partook of the nature of prayer. 
This is all that lives to reach the skies ; all that heaven 
receives from earth ; all that is ever permitted to ascend 
before God. And when the history of the world shall 
finally be summed up, nothing which had not been in 
that censer will be named except to be condemned. 
Preaching itself—benevolent activity in all its forms,— 
except so far as it is associated with devotion, will be 
passed over to record the triumphs of prayer. Many a 
Christian who once filled the public eye with his active 
deeds and burning zeal, will be comparatively unnoticed ; 
and the man of prayer—the wrestler with God—will 
be drawn out from his closet obscurity and proclaimed 
in his stead ; and it will then appear that while the one 
was only moving earth, the other was moving heaven. 


408 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


If the activity of the period referred to, aimed 
supremely at spiritual results, the necessity for prayer 
would be still farther increased ; for it is expressly in 
order to the production of such results that the agency 
of the Holy Spirit has been appointed and promised ; 
and it is only in proportion as we implore his presence 
and influence that we honour that appointment, or can 
obtain the fulfilment of that promise. But such is the 
special aim of all the Christian activity of the present 
period. Without despising or overlooking any of the 
real interests of humanity, the great and ultimate object 
of our endeavours is purely spiritual—the regeneration 
of the world. Here, then, we are brought into the 
special province of the Spirit : a region in which our 
only robe should be humility, our only posture that of 
dependence, our only language prayer. Here, as the 
great Missionary Spirit, he looks on all the ordinances 
of the Church as the instruments with which he works, 
and on all its members as the organs through whom he 
speaks, and on the entire dispensation as emphatically 
his own. Now how can we place ourselves in harmony 
with such an arrangement without earnest, united, per¬ 
severing supplication for his gracious influence ? 

The first prayer of Christ himself on his ascension to 
heaven was for the effusion of the Spirit; and the first 
prayer of the Church should be for the same blessing. 
Why is it—let there be great searchings of heart—why 
is it that the promised impartation of the Spirit is with¬ 
held ? Why is it that we enjoy only a few drops of 
that mighty influence, of which, at this moment, the 
heavens are full ? Only one explanation can be given : 
u We have not, because we ask not; or because we 
ask amiss.” Individual Christians have not, particular 
Churches have not, the Church collectively has not duly 
felt its need of that influence, nor sent up the prayer 
which is equal to bring it down. If, then, we would 
not grieve the Holy Spirit of God ; if we would do 
homage to the office which he holds in the plan of the 
world’s redemption ; if we would do honour to the 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


409 


mediation of Christ on account of which his gracious 
influences are imparted—in all our entreaties for the 
conversion of the world our loudest supplications must 
ascend for the advent of the Holy Spirit. 

Besides, it is only as our endeavours for the salvation 
of the world are accompanied by prayer, that we are 
acting in harmony with the pervading spirit of the 
Gospel constitution. According to that spirit, every 
thing is made dependent on prayer, and may be effected 
by it. What is the sacrifice of Christ himself, in prac¬ 
tical effect, but prayer in its most concentrated, intense 
and prevailing form—the prayer of blood ; a prayer so 
ardent that he consumed himself in the utterance ; a 
prayer which is ascending still, and still filling the ear of 
God with its entreaties ; a prayer from which all other 
prayers derive their prevailing power? Hence, it is 
said, “ He is able to save unto the uttermost all them that 
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make 
intercession for them.” He has turned the merit of his 
sacrifice into prayer. Intercession, in his hands, is a 
chain fastened to the throne of God—the support and 
stay of a sinking world. Yes, even Jesus prays, and 
by prayer succeeds. If he would have the heathen to 
be his for an inheritance, he is directed to ask to that 
effect. And accordingly he does ask; “For Zion’s 
sake,” saith he, “I will not hold my peace; and for 
Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteous¬ 
ness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation 
thereof as a lamp that burneth.” And shall he pray for 
this object alone ? He summons his Church to join 
him: “Ye that make mention of the Lord,” saith 
he, “keep not silence, and give him no rest.” He 
places them at his side by the altar; puts into their 
hand a censer filled with incense like his own; and thus 
seeks to multiply the voice and effect of his own inter¬ 
cession. 

Wise and gracious arrangement! For owing to this it is 
that every believer—even the poorest and the obscurest 
—is afforded an opportunity of indulging his supreme 

35 


410 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


love to Christ by aiding the advancement of his king¬ 
dom. Let him not waste his moments in fruitlessly 
deploring how truly small the largest gifts which he 
can lay on the altar of Christ; how little the time 
which he can give to his service; or how circumscribed 
the influence which his lowness of station permits him 
to exert for his glory. The throne of grace is open— 
open to him—open to all. Here, he may say—here I 
can gratify my love to Christ, and give a loose to all 
the ardour of my soul. Poor I may be in the world’s 
account; but here I can pour out at his feet the wealth 
of my affections. Busy I may be in the service of man ; 
but here I can repair, in thought and desire, and serve 
him continually. And let my influence with man be as 
limited as it may, here I can come and have power with 
God. While others are engaged in pleading for the 
cause of Christ with men, here I can come and plead 
for it with God ; here I can vie with an apostle. While 
a Paul is planting, and an Apollos watering, here I can 
aid them both by bringing down the increase. 

If indeed the salvation of the world be our aim, 
whatever may be instrumentally necessary to that sal¬ 
vation should be made the subject of prayer. Especially 
should the spiritual prosperity of the Christian Church 
excite our earnest desire. Is it inquired, What should 
be the special object of supplication for the Church ? 
It wants more spirituality and distinctness from the 
world; it wants a higher appreciation of its office as 
the instrument of Christ for saving the world; more 
of the spirit of liberality to sacrifice for Christ; of 
union in accordance with the prayer of Christ; of 
zeal which shall burn for the universal triumphs of 
Christ. But one want there is which comprehends 
the whole,—the impartation of the Spirit of Christ. 
Could a convocation be held of all the churches upon 
earth, the object of their one united cry should be 
for that promised Spirit. Let that be secured, and 
in obtaining that we shall obtain the supply of every 
other want : we should find that we had acquired 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


411 


the same mind which was also in Christ ; a benevolence 
which would yearn over the whole human race; a 
brotherly love which would combine with the whole 
body of Christians for the recovery of the world ; a 
zeal which would be ever devising fresh methods of 
usefulness, practising self-denial, and laying itself out 
in the service of Christ; and a perseverance which 
would never rest till the whole family of man should be 
seated together at the banquet of salvation. 

But if by thus imploring an effusion of the Spirit 
on the Church, we are, in effect, interceding for the 
world, since it is through the instrumentality of the 
Church that the world is to be converted to Christ, 
how important that we should realize in thought the 
dignity and responsibility of our office ! We go to 
God as the earthly representatives of mankind. We 
pass to the throne of grace through multitudes, myriads 
of human beings. May we not hear them, as w 7 e go, 
imploring a place in our supplications ? May we not 
see all Africa assembled in our path, urging us to go 
to God for them, to describe their wrongs, to ask for 
the blessings of the reign of Christ for them ? And 
before we have done pleading for Africa, China comes 
with its untold myriads, entreating us to intercede 
for them. And while yet we are pleading for China, 
India comes with its tale of lamentation and woe, and 
entreats us to speak for it : and can we refrain ? And 
when we grow faint, they all combine their entreaties 
that we cry to God for them louder still ; that we call 
in help—more intercessors, and more still,—till all the 
Church be prostrate in prayer. And when we move 
to quit the throne of grace, they all, in effect, entreat 
us not to leave them unrepresented before God. u If 
there be a God,” they say, “ and if prayer can reach 
him, do not leave us thus, or we perish. Our only 
hope is in the God you worship; the Saviour you 
proclaim. Pray that the blessings of his grace may 
be extended to us.” Did we habitually realize our 
office thus, our prayers would rise to a degree of impor- 


412 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


tunity to which nothing could be denied essential to the 
success of our Missionary endeavours. 

And be it remarked, that prayer is not only desirable, 
obligatory, urgent,—the time has come when, in an 
unusual sense, it is inevitable. We read of the Church 
of old being shut up unto the faith which should 
afterwards be revealed. The Church at present is 
shut up unto prayer. It must submit to deep disgrace 
in heathen lands, or call down unusual measures of help 
from heaven. It is so completely ensnared by success, 
that it must sound a retreat, or betake itself to God 
in unwonted prayer. Happy necessity, which shall 
drive it to this resource ! Blessed exigence, which 
shall bring the whole Church on its knees before God ! 
The time to favour her, yea, the set time will then 
have come. u God, even our own God, will bless us.” 
Gazing from his throne upon his Church suppliant 
at his feet, he will say, “Behold, she prayeth ; let 
the windows of heaven be opened, and the blessing be 
poured out.” 

Again, then, we return to the position with which 
we commenced this part of our subject,—and our survey 
of the necessities of the Church has only deepened 
our conviction of its truth,—that its great practical 
want as a Missionary Church is a spirit of entire 
devotedness to its office. He who knows any thing 
of the human mind knows that its full energies are 
never put forth unless its object be single. He who 
know r s any thing of the relative design of the Christian 
Church, knows that it deserves the undivided attention 
and entire consecration of the whole Christian. And 
he who knows any thing of the history of that Church ’ 
is aw^are that those who have effected the greatest good 
in their own age, and who are producing the greatest 
impression on posterity, were distinguished for the 
entireness with which they gave themselves up to the 
service of Christ. Not that they occupied a public 
sphere, perhaps, nor that they were distinguished by 
any one peculiar mode of doing good; but, whatever 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


413 


their station, and however diversified their Christian 
activity, they could each say, like the apostle, though 
in another sense, “One thing I do.” One all-pervading 
passion, one all-controlling purpose bound their various 
and versatile efforts together, causing the whole to 
result, like the intricate motions of a complicated 
machine, in one entire effect. Their talents which, 
without this spirit of devotedness, would have been 
comparatively wasted, or have ranked as insignificant, 
by it acquired a concentration and a power which 
arrested attention, and moved society. Feeble rays 
of knowledge which, without this, would have been 
useless to all but the possessors themselves, by it 
were collected into a focus, and made to illuminate 
and burn. Powers of persuasion and reasoning which, 
without it, would seldom have moved or convinced, 
by it acquired an impassioned earnestness which would 
be beard, and could not fail to be felt. Each appeal 
which they made for God, however simple the terms 
in which it was couched, was charged high with feeling 
and fervour; each sentence an arrow with barbed and 
sharpened point ; each attempt to reason for God, 
“ logic set on fire.” Opportunities of usefulness which, 
without it, would have passed by them unseen and 
neglected, were, by it, anticipated, waited for, met, 
seized, improved, multiplied. Characters which, with¬ 
out it, would have been unnoticed, by it acquired an 
air of originality and greatness, and even obtained a 
wide spread ascendency over other characters. 

There are men now occupied in the field of Mission¬ 
ary labour whose names, but for this, would never 
have been heard of beyond their own immediate circle ; 
but whose praise is now in all the churches, and will 
be to the end of time. Not a man of this kind ever 
lives without leaving on society permanent traces that 
he has been among them. And why ? Partly for 
this reason : that the undivided and devoted man of 
God will be ever and anon impelled, by the very 
law of his devotedness, to advance a step, at least, 
35 * 


414 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


beyond his contemporaries ; to carry out into vigorous 
action some principle which they are content to retain 
slumbering in their creeds; to give himself up to the 
power of his principles. True, by so doing he may 
often attempt more than he can effect; but what then ? 
he will effect more than most men attempt. 

And is not the devoted Christian the only one likely 
to develope and draw out into benevolent activity the 
resources of those around him, and of the Church in 
general ? No one else will feel sufficiently concerned 
to attempt it; or if he did, the attempt, counteracted 
as it would be by his own example, would prove 
nugatory on others, and recoil with shame on his own 
head. But the Christian whose heart is wholly devoted 
to Christ, cannot see the paucity of his own means 
in contrast with the magnitude of the work to be 
performed, and then look around on the unemployed 
and ample resources of the Church, all of which are 
due to the service of Christ, but nearly the whole of 
which are lying open to the incursions of the world, 
without attempting to reclaim them for Christ. He 
cannot recollect that each member of that vast body 
of the faithful has his post assigned in the cause of 
human salvation ; that in that post all his Christian 
influence should be put into constant requisition; and 
that every thing dear to God is suspended and suffering 
owing to the general neglect of this truth, without 
feeling impelled to warn his fellow Christians. He 
believes, and therefore speaks ; while his example, 
louder than words, reminds them that they are not 
their own ; that they are exclusively the properly of 
Christ. 

And is not the Christian whose devotedness is such 
that he cannot be satisfied with giving himself less 
than wholly to the service of Christ, and who would 
fain see all the resources of the Christian Church 
pressed into the same service, and all its members co¬ 
operating with him to the utmost; is not he, for the 
very same reasons, likely to be the most earnest in his 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


415 


entreaties for the indispensable influences of the Holy 
Spirit ? Yes ; whatever else may be essential in order 
to the conversion of the world, he will insist first and 
last on the agency of the Holy Spirit. Remembering 
that the present is emphatically the dispensation of 
the Spirit, that to convince men of sin is the office of 
the Spirit, that the ordinances of the Church are the 
instruments of the Spirit, and that every Christian 
member is at once the mouth of the Church and the 
organ of the Spirit, in their united appeals to the 
world ; he feels as if he could not move without the 
Spirit ; but remembering also that his influence is 
promised to prayer, he cannot do less than cry earnestly 
for his aid. Thus earnestly sought, and appropriately 
honoured, the presence of the Spirit will be felt, 
nourishing and enlarging his piety into an element, 
not affecting a part of his character merely, but per¬ 
vading the whole ; consecrating his knowledge, and 
turning it into heavenly wisdom ; keeping him on his 
watch-tower, looking out for the signs of the times, 
and the means of improving them to the glory of God ; 
inspiring him with a growing confidence in God, in 
the sufficiency of the Gospel to meet the wants of the 
Church and of the world ; concentrating his powers 
to the one great object of human salvation ; impelling 
him under a sense of the magnitude of the work to 
be accomplished, to excite and engage the agencies 
of all around him ; and yet deepening his conviction 
that could all these agencies be put into full activity, 
the power of the Spirit alone could crown that activity 
with success. As certainly as he believes this he will 
pray ; as certainly as he prays he will obtain the Holy 
Spirit; and as certainly as he is actuated by the Spirit 
of God, his will be a devoted and efficient instru¬ 
mentality. 

Now such entireness of consecration is, not among 
other things, but above all other things, in the order 
of means, indispensable. Always obligatory, it has 
now more than ever assumed a character of pressing, 


416 


I 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


crying urgency. The spiritual wants of the heathen 
become apparent faster than we can supply them. 
Cries for Missionary help thicken around us more 
rapidly than we can meet and appease them. The 
Church is distracted by the multiplicity of demands 
made on it, compared with the scantiness of means 
at present at its disposal. Entire devotedness would 
remedy the evil; not so much by adding to those 
resources the thousand means of influence which are 
now wasted in the world, as by certainly securing 
an unmeasured blessing from on high. God w 7 ould 
arise out of his place, and then, although our means 
were much scantier than they now are, the w r ork would 
rapidly proceed to a glorious consummation. 

Christians, then, must live to Christ for the con¬ 
version of the world. The individual believer must 
come to feel that his very business , as a Christian, 
his calling is to propagate his religion. Instead of 
waiting for great conjunctures to arise before he begins 
to serve the Missionary cause, or delaying until he 
has been transported to some distinguished field of 
usefulness at a distance, he must remember that 
wherever he is the sphere of his duty is always lying 
around him. Instead of waiting for others to move, 
each one must act under a sense of his individual 
responsibility to Christ, and as if he heard the Saviour’s 
voice singling him out to tax his powers to the utmost 
in his service. Instead of taking example from the 
generality of those around him, he must take his 
standard from the word of God, and he will be furnish¬ 
ing a model for them, giving a pattern to the future, 
becoming the founder not of a new doctrinal sect, 
but of a body of Christians distinguished by simply 
harmonizing their life with their professions. Instead 
of admiring the devotedness of Christ at a distance, 
he must feel that, like Christ, he has a work given 
him to do,—the extension, or prolongation, in a sense, 
of the very same work,—that as the course of Christ 
led direct to the cross, his life is to be a continuation 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


417 


of the same course from the cross to the sinner whom 
it concerns; so that the same object for which his Lord 
came into the world and died, he is to live for till he 
quits the world. 

Heads of families must remember that parental in¬ 
fluence and domestic relationships are to be consecrated 
to the same object. Not only must they train their 
children to habits of benevolence, early impressing 
them that the principal value of money consists in its 
subserviency to the cause of Christ; they must look 
higher and farther even than this. They must them¬ 
selves feel that the chief value even of their children, 
consists in their consecration to the same glorious cause. 
And, therefore, they must early begin to train them to 
take part in it; instructing them in the nature and 
progress of Christian Missions ; impressing it on them 
that the conversion of the world to Christianity is the 
noblest enterprise in which they can engage; inspiring 
them, if consistent with other claims, with zeal to em¬ 
bark in it; and in the event of their so doing, preparing 
as far as possible to support them in it. 

Christian ministers must not regard the fact that they 
are occupying spheres of usefulness at home, as a suffi¬ 
cient reason for declining to enter the Missionary field. 
They are to consider, that as long as the demand for 
labourers is so much greater among the heathen, than 
it is here, there is a standing call in providence to 
exercise their ministry among them; and that unless 
they can show the best reasons for non-compliance, they 
are bound to listen and obey. Should such reasons, 
however, exist, they must be missionaries at home. 
Their ministry to be effective, must develope all the 
resources of the Church, and bring them forth into 
actual operation. The holder of the five talents was to 
increase them, not by acting without them, but with 
them ; and the man of God, when put in trust with the 
ministry of a particular church, is to look on each of 
its members as a talent concerning which the Divine 
Proprietor is saying, u Occupy till I come—employ 


418 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH 


every member—every moment and faculty of every 
member—to the best advantage, that each may be the 
means of winning another, and that my Church of five 
hundred may be the means of gaining other five hun¬ 
dred more.” With this solemn charge resting on his 
spirit, he will feel that his first object is to make the 
most of that church, with whose instrumentality his 
Lord has intrusted him. Its members may not be 
educated, wealthy, numerous, nor, in a worldly sense, 
influential. But they are such as God hath collected 
and formed into a church, to take part in his sublime 
purpose of saving the world. One thing is certain, 
therefore, that they are all to be employed. In this 
sense, there are to be no “private Christians” among 
them. Every believer is a public man, taken up into 
the universal designs of the God of grace. In whatever 
sense they are private, then, like the ranks of an army 
all are to take the field; the only concern of the minis¬ 
ter must be how to dispose of his forces so as to render 
them most effective in the cause of God. A ministry 
which begins and ends with itself—however pious, 
intelligent, and eloquent it may be—is only the ministry 
of one man; and even that counteracted, neutralized, 
and often rendered worse than useless by the slumbering 
and selfish inactivity of the people. But a ministry 
which sets and keeps in motion an entire church—how¬ 
ever destitute it may be of other qualifications, becomes, 
in effect, the ministry of all its members, and thus 
proves an instrumentality of the widest influence and 
of the greatest efficiency. And never till the entire 
Church is thus moved, and all its resources put into 
actual requisition, will the full value of the Christian 
ministry be seen; for never till then will it fully 
answer the high object of its Divine appointment in 
the conversion of mankind. 

Why should not each church, or Christian community, 
take into sober consideration what is its proportion of 
the agency necessary to evangelize the world ? Every 
church has its few active and its many indolent mem- 


IN RELATION TO MISSIONS. 


419 


bers; or, at least, those who are kept from indolence 
chiefly, to avoid the shame and the remonstrances to 
which it would lead ; and well do the few know that if 
the many were as active as themselves, their collective 
usefulness might be greatly increased. And well does 
each of our great Missionary Societies know that if all 
the unemployed resources of the community to which it 
belongs were but brought out from the napkin in which 
they are shrouded, and from under the bushel where 
they are hid, and placed at its disposal, soon might the 
sphere of its operations be enlarged to an almost inde¬ 
finite extent. Now this must be done. The Lord of 
the Church has made it the duty of his people statedly 
to pray that more labourers may be sent forth into the 
moral harvest. But this supposes that we are all 
anxious to furnish the requisite number, and that as 
soon as any who are eligible for the work appear in the 
Church, we regard it as an answer to our prayers, and 
lake the necessary steps for sending them forth. Ac¬ 
cordingly, instead of contenting itself with an annual 
contribution merely, each Church must become in a 
sense, a complete Missionary Society. If suitable 
agents or those who may be made such exist within its 
bosom, it must seek them out, and press them into the 
service. If the minister himself should express a desire 
to dedicate himself to the work, let the people gene¬ 
rously sacrifice their own wishes for the good of the 
heathen. If the Missionary preacher cannot be found 
among them, the Missionary layman may. If the 
wealthy Christian has no higher reason for remaining 
at home than that which arises from his comfort and 
convenience, he must be affectionately admonished that 
the least he can do is to send and support a Missionary 
in his stead. The Churches severally must feel a dis¬ 
tinct responsibility; each must perform a portion of 
duty; the whole work must be taken up more in detail; 
and each individual Christian must have the appeal 
carried home to his conscience as to the manner and the 
extent in which he will obey the last command of 


420 


THE WANTS OF THE CHURCH, ETC. 


Christ, till he feels that it is a question which he must 
personally, and, in the presence of God, decide. 

The Church universal must unite. Not only must 
denominations of Christians verbally acknowledge the 
common guilt of their existing dissensions, they must be 
seen practically repenting, sympathizing, co-operating, 
and even emulating with each other in the sublime 
struggle of saving a world of souls from death. u The 
plague is legion.” For ages the plague has prevailed. 
Countless myriads of immortal beings have, in conse¬ 
quence, perished. And still its desolating influence 
sweeps over the nations. The recovery or destruction 
of unknown multitudes depends on the instant applica¬ 
tion of the Divine remedy. That remedy is in the hands 
of the Church; and it is there that she may rush with 
it “between the dead and the living.” And what she 
may do, she must do ; nor must she expect to achieve 
“any deliverance in the earth,” any signal or final 
triumph, until she has laid herself out to the utmost 
with a view to it. “ When Zion travailed she brought 
forth,” and not till then. “ A woman when she is in 
travail hath sorrow ;” and so has a Church labouring, 
and in pangs for the regeneration of the world. The 
only question with such a Church will be, and the 
only consideration for us must be, Is it within the 
compass of our power to send the Gospel through 
the world ? Not, whether we can send it with a small 
effort, or, in a way which shall not materially interfere 
with our favourite plans of ease and habits of personal 
gratification? But can we, by “strong crying and 
tears,” by the practical activity of a bold and vigorous 
faith, by the most strenuous and persevering exertions 
furnish a dying world, the Saviour’s world, with the 
means of salvation ? The question must be answered 
by the actual experiment of unreserved devotedness. 


PART VI. 


MOTIVES TO ENFORCE THE ENTIRE CONSECRATION 
OF CHRISTIANS TO THE GREAT OBJECTS OF THE 
MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


It now remains that we exhibit and enforce some of 
the motives which exist for entire consecration to the 
great objects of the Missionary enterprise. And re¬ 
membering how much may depend, under God, on 
their right selection and earnest inculcation, the writer 
cannot but humbly and earnestly implore the gracious 
aid of the Holy Spirit, that none of the precious and 
momentous interests involved, may suffer in his hands. 
As if all the heathen world were present as his clients, 
and he were pleading for them in the audience of the 
entire Church assembled on their behalf, and within 
hearing of the reproaches of the myriads whom the 
Church has suffered to go down unwarned to perdi¬ 
tion, and within sight of the great tribunal and of 
Him who sits on it, he would faithfully, affectionately, 
solemnly urge the duty of unreserved devotedness as 
the only hope, from the Church, for the heathen 
world. Let Christians then devoutly consider the 
grounds on which we urge this, and the reasons which 
bind them to comply ; reasons so affecting and weighty 
that although the wisest and the holiest men have in 
all ages united to enforce them with tears and en- 

36 



422 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


treaties, and though some of these men of God ap¬ 
peared to have been continued on earth chiefly to 
enforce them, devoting their whole lives to the work, 
yet they never have, never can have, full justice done 
to them ; reasons so vast, that in order to comprehend 
them, we must compute the worth of all the souls 
perishing in ignorance of Christ, through the want of 
it, and of all the glory which through eternity would 
redound to God from their conversion ; and reasons so 
deeply laid in the Divine purposes, that the great object 
of the advent itself—the salvation of the world—is sus¬ 
pended on their taking effect. 

Some of those reasons we have enforced already ; 
not waiting till we approached the close of the sub¬ 
ject, but urging them as they arose successively out 
of the various Parts. Indeed, the whole of the First 
Part may be considered as an exposition of the Scrip¬ 
tural obligations to the duty; while the Second Part, 
on the benefits of the Missionary enterprise, afforded 
us an opportunity of showing that the nearer we have 
approached to entire devoteduess, the greater have been 
the advantages to ourselves and others ; the Third Part, 
on Missionary encouragements, showed that nothing 
but such devotedness is requisite in order to give the 
Gospel to all mankind ; even the objections to the 
Missionary object, enumerated in the Fourth Part, were 
shown to be either utterly unfounded, or easily con¬ 
vertible into motives to the most self-denying zeal for 
its advancement; and the Fifth Part professed to show 
that such consecration forms the moral fitness which the 
Church wants, and to specify the various respects in 
which, under God, it would tend to supply our Mission¬ 
ary defects. 

I. We would now entreat the reader to consider 
that this entire devotedness is called for, if only to re¬ 
trieve, as far as possible , the evil effects of our past con¬ 
duct , both as individual Christians, and as members of 
the visible and universal Church. As converted men, 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


423 


we can probably look back to a period when we lived 
exclusively to ourselves. During the whole of that 
time, we are to remember, our life was planted in 
battery against Christ. Through that entire period, 
our character was full of influence—daily and hourly 
increasing the power of old trains of evil influence, or 
originating new ones. Each of these trains is still in 
existence ; all of them are at this moment in operation 
somewhere ; some of them doubtless in eternity, in hell. 
Tremendous reflection ! they have entered into the cha¬ 
racter of some of the lost—become elements of damna¬ 
tion ; and are now, while we are here at ease, im¬ 
parting a darker shade of malignity to their thoughts, 
and deeper, hoarser accents, to their blasphemies. And 
on they will go, extending and multiplying their fearful 
effects, till all of them have worked out and discharged 
their proper results in the same appalling issue. And 
is it for us to be now satisfied with the consecration 
of less than the whole of our remaining influence to 
counteract the evil ? Even if Christ did not expressly 
require it—if he were even to give us a dispensation 
from it—would our sense of obligation, our agony of 
solicitude to retrieve the past, allow us to accept it ? 
If tears could wash away the evil of the past, could 
we do less than wish that our head were a fountain 
of waters, that we might weep night and day ? But 
tears cannot; to remove its guilt there must be blood 
of infinite value; and to counteract its depraving in¬ 
fluence, a spirit of almighty power; while all that we 
can do—and surely we shall not plead for doing less— 
is to be the devoted unintermitting channel for the 
communication of both to the world. 

Besides which, we now stand related to the Christian 
Church ; and this entire devotedness is called for to 
retrieve the effects, not only of our own conduct, but 
also of those who for ages have been the professed 
representatives of dishonoured Christianity to the world. 
Let us think what that conduct, age after age, has been. 
From the moment the command went forth, “ Preach 


424 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


the Gospel to every creature,” the world was divided 
into two classes. Those who possessed the Gospel 
were to view themselves as standing to the rest of 
mankind in the relation of guardians—agents of mercy 
—instruments of salvation. What they ought to have 
been we have seen—alas, how perfect the contrast to 
what they have been ! It is fearful to think that, since 
then, forty thousand millions of human beings should 
have been allowed to pass through this world of guilt 
and woe on their way to a dark and dreadful eternity, 
without having heard from the Church a single accent 
of mercy and salvation. It is startling and alarming 
to reflect that there should be a greater number of 
heathen in the world at this moment, than at any 
previous period since the Gospel dispensation com¬ 
menced ; greater even than about fifty years ago, when 
the Modern Missionary effort began; for while, owing 
to our languid measures, we are proselyting them only 
at the rate of some hundreds or thousands annually, 
they are yearly adding to their ranks, by mere increase 
of population, about three millions and a half. 

But we speak not of mere neglect. Simply to have 
disregarded the command of Christ to evangelize them, 
would have been harmless, perfect innocence, compared 
with what men called Christians have done under the 
pretence of obeying it. Simply to have left the 
heathen to perish in ignorance and idolatry, would 
have been mercy, benevolence, compared with the 
cruelties they practised under the name of conversion. 
As they ascended, generation after generation, to the 
bar of God, and were asked the solemn question, 
“Where is thy heathen brother?” to have been able 
to reply, “ Gone down unwarned to perdition,” would 
have been comparative merit. But his blood was on 
their hands—they were there reeking from his slaughter 
—his injured spirit was there to accuse them. Let us 
track their progress among the heathen; and, if we 
can find it by no other marks, we have only to select 
the path most strewed with the wrecks of humanity— 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


425 


it is sure to be theirs. What was Southern America 
a century after the first nominal Christians landed 
there ? the vast and crowded sepulchre of her mur¬ 
dered sons. Ask Northern America, Where are thy 
children of a thousand tribes ? and the hill and the 
valley which knew them once can only echo, Where ? 
—for men called Christians have been among them. 
A voice is heard in the south, u lamentation and bitter 
w r eeping, [Africa] weeping for her children, refuses to 
be comforted because they are not. Thus, saith the 
Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes 
from tears ; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the 
Lord ; and they shall come again from the land of the 
enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the 
Lord, that thy children shall come again to thine own 
border.” But whose is that land of the enemy ? and 
why were they taken there ? whose can it be but the 
land of Christians ? and what could they aim at but 
their conversion ? Unexampled infatuation! in each 
of the instances we have named, the system of fiendish 
iniquity was commenced in the dishonoured name of 
Christ, and for the professed extension of the faith. 
And yet—unparalleled inconsistency !—the only men 
they martyred were those who attempted scripturally to 
extend that faith! 

But speak we of the past ? Still the evil rages and 
extends. At this moment, men called Christians are 
the main props of idolatry in India—more useful to 
Juggernaut than his own hereditary priests. They 
aspire not to serve at his altar; they are content to 
hold up his train. Jesus and Juggernaut are alike to 
them ; and they lend the sacred shield of the one, to 
guard the blood-stained and worn-out throne of the 
other. Slavery, under another name, driven from dis¬ 
embowelled Africa, is coasting other shores, seeking 
whom it may devour. The monster has tasted blood, 
and will not soon be driven from human flesh. Colo¬ 
nization and commerce still advance, with murder in 
their van. Those ships, whose holds are filled with 

36 # 


426 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


distilled poison; those decks, piled with the instruments 
of destruction ; that large fleet, freighted with opium—* 
all proclaim their sleepless activity, and their chosen 
means. Go, mark the thousand shores and islands of 
the Pacific, and say, with what are their tribes mad¬ 
dened, but with the liquid fires which they have im¬ 
ported ? with what are they slaughtering each other, 
but with the weapons which their hands have supplied ? 
with what are they pining and wasting away, but with 
the loathsome diseases which their vices have left be¬ 
hind ? Missionaries of Christ ! is there a single coast, 
a solitary island, whose virgin soil has not yet been 
defiled by their touch ? Hasten away ; or they will be 
there before you ; there, to propagate an influence 
which ages of Christian effort will not be able to efface ; 
there, to render the Christian name, a name for avarice 
and treachery, licentiousness and blood. 

True, there are exceptions to these statements ; but 
rare exceptions they are. True, most of the actors in 
these tragic scenes have been Christians only in name; 
but in name they have been, and therein lies the evil. 
True, we are not directly answerable for the evil ; but 
deeply implicated we are. When Christians should 
have been protesting, counteracting, moving heaven and 
earth against it, they all slumbered and slept. Were 
they not then implicated in the guilt ? And the only 
condition on which we can escape the same implication 
is, by doing what they neglected. Let us omit a single 
prayer; withhold a single mite; send out a single 
Missionary less than we could ; delay a single moment 
to do any thing short of all we can do ; and, during 
that moment, and to the full amount of that neglected 
means, we are implicated in the guilt, and are abetting 
the destructive influences, which for ages have been 
turning the Christian name among the heathen into a 
curse. 

Even if it were possible for Christians instrumentally 
to arrest and annihilate at a blow all the wfide spread 
machinery of evil which they have allowed to cover 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


427 


the earth in their name, ages would elapse, time itself 
must expire, before the pernicious influence of what 
has been done, would cease to work against them. 
But, till that blow be struck, not only will those evil 
influences already in action continue to extend, new 
ones will be daily originated and augmenting their 
force. For the sake of the Christian name, then, in 
which the foulest atrocities have been committed ; for 
the sake of the Church which has guiltily allowed it ; 
for the sake of that world which has meantime suffered 
the dreadful effects, and which often thrusts away the 
cup of salvation because proffered by Christian hands, 
let no one bearing; the Christian name live to himself. 
Could each one multiply himself and his means a thou¬ 
sand fold, all would be necessary, if only to retrieve the 
guilt of the past. 

II. Entire devotedness to the cause of Christ is ne¬ 
cessary, not only to retrieve the past , hut as the only 
alternative of partial hostility against him at present. 
He that is not with me, saith Christ—and therefore 
during every moment in which he is not with me—is 
against me. Lax views on this subject are the origin 
of much of that inferior piety by which the Church 
is enfeebled, and its usefulness impaired. Christians 
generally appear to proceed on the supposition that 
there is a sense in which they are still partially their 
own ; that there are considerable portions of their time 
in which they are at perfect liberty to relax as they 
please; that at such times their conduct is quite neutral 
in its influence ; that any thing short of positive hos¬ 
tility against Christ, is to be put down to the account 
of so much service done for him. Now were this sup¬ 
position as true as it is false—were it quite possible lor 
the Christian to withhold from Christ a portion of his 
resources, without rendering by such an act the least 
advantage to the foe, it would still be highly incon¬ 
sistent and unjust. For at the very moment we are 
relaxing in his service, unnumbered agencies of his are 


428 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


at work for us. At the moment we are self-indulging, 
we are doing it with his money, in his time, at his 
expense, by the light of his sun. But when we re¬ 
member that every particle of influence withheld from 
Christ, is so much employed against him; that neu¬ 
trality here is impossible; the consequences of such 
conduct are alarming. Were it possible for us to 
ascend some mount of vision whence we could look 
down upon the consequences of our conduct, we should 
see that at the moment when we thought ourselves 
most perfectly detached from all around us, there is 
a sense in which we were then standing in the midst 
of the universe with lines of relation uniting us with 
all its multitudes. We should see that often, when we 
thought our character most unobserved and at rest, it' 
was giving out moral influences without intermission ; 
that the moment they ceased to be good, they began to 
be evil—that, however apparently unimportant, they 
have ever since been swelling that tide of evil by which 
myriads are borne on to perdition. We should see 
that the world is the scene of a moral conflict; that in 
that conflict we hold an appointed post; that at that 
post every thing we possess is a weapon of war ; that 
never have we ceased to wield it either for evil or for 
good ; for the moment in which w 7 e thought we were 
only pausing, a shout of joy ran through the ranks of 
the invisible foe, who beheld in that pause a proof of 
our weakness, and the sign and means of their own 
strength ; so that when we thought we were only doing 
nothing for Christ, they hailed us as an accession to 
their own ranks acting against him ; and thus we should 
see why it is that Meroz was cursed because they came 
not out to the help of the Lord, and why it is that in 
the final judgment those who did nothing will find 
themselves standing side by side with them that did 
evil, and involved in the same condemnation. 

It follows, then, that if we are doing a particle less 
than all we can do for the kingdom of Christ, we are 
incurring a proportion of the guilt of those who are 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


429 


doing nothing, and for the very same reason. The 
obligation which binds us to take any part in the grand 
conflict which is waging, not only holds us responsible 
for doing every thing in our utmost power, but actually 
regards whatever is short of this as so much opposition, 
with our cognizance, against him. Let us not suppose, 
then, that because we are doing something we are suffi¬ 
ciently demonstrating our fidelity to his cause ; if we 
are only doing one-third, so to speak, of what we could 
do, the other two-thirds are operating, as ours, in hos¬ 
tility against him, as truly as that one-third, is operating, 
as ours, in his behalf. If there be, for instance, some¬ 
where in the heathen world a certain amount or form 
of evil which my agency, armed with power from hea¬ 
ven, might entirely subdue, and I have aimed at the 
destruction of only one-half of it, the other half must 
be regarded as my agency for upholding the cause of 
idolatry. If a Church, or an individual, support—as 
some do—a native teacher of Christianity in India, on 
the condition that he be called by the name of the 
Christian contributor; and if, while supporting only 
one, he could support two, he must be regarded as 
working there by two representatives—one for Christ, 
the other against him. True, the second, or evil agent, 
has not been named after him, is not supported by 
him ; but inasmuch as he could, by the Divine blessing, 
be counteracting double the amount of evil influence 
which he is, that portion of it against which he pro¬ 
claims no war, and makes no effort, is to be held as 
working against Christ, with his connivance, and in his 
name. Precious influence ! each grain of which exceeds 
all calculable value. Well might our Lord be jealous 
for every particle ; since there are but tw T o treasuries 
in the universe, one for Him, and the other for Satan ; 
so that every grain withheld from his falls into and 
enriches the other. And well may the Christian regard 
himself with all the sacredness of a temple, since he 
cannot yield himself to any other claimant than Christ, 
even for a moment, without yielding himself, during 


430 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


that moment, to a hostile party. So that, in truth, our 
only escape from partial hostility to Christ, is that of 
unreserved devotedness to his service. 

III. The reference we have made to the great moral 
conflict which is pending, reminds us next, that the state 
of the heathen is such as to require the entire amount 
of Christian influence for its amelioration. It is affect¬ 
ing to think that while we are sitting, perhaps in our 
home, comparatively unmoved, there are, elsewhere, 
above six hundred millions of our race under the almost 
undisturbed domination of Satan; that these myriads 
are the wretched survivors of untold generations, who 
have lived and died under the same vassalage ; that, as 
if they were born and were living in hell instead of on 
earth, the Destroyer is living and walking amongst 
them ; and that almost all the influences under which 
they pass across the stage of life, and which are perpe¬ 
tually darting and acting upon them from all sides 
round, are the influences of a system which he has been 
thousands of years constructing and maturing ; to which 
he has been constantly adding something, and the sole 
merit of which, in his eyes, consists in the efficacy and 
certainty with which it invades and destroys them. 
Such, we may suppose, was the sight which Jesus 
beheld, when from the mountain’s top the tempter 
meant that he should see only “the kingdoms of the 
world and the glory of them.” And is it true, that after 
the Gospel has been amongst us nearly two thousand 
years, that spectacle is to be seen still ? Ascend, in 
thought, the same mount—we might say to the inquirer 
—and you behold substantially the same vision. Take 
a hasty glance at them, at least ; more, you cannot; for 
were they to assume the most dense and compacted form, 
days must elapse before they w T ouldall have passed. Look 
down upon them—if the thick darkness which hangs 
over them will permit; look down, and mark their con¬ 
dition. Listen to the din of the great Babel; do you 
hear any voice of prayer ? do you see any hopeful sign ? 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


431 


It is true, they have priests—but they are impostors 
and murderers ; and altars—but they are stained with 
human blood ; and objects of worship—but they a sacri¬ 
fice to devils, and not to God.” Look closer still ; and 
as you look, think of all the elements of influence— 
ancestry—wealth—numbers—you cannot name one 
which is not made to minister to their destruction. 
Enumerate the vices—avarice, sensuality, revenge—you 
cannot specify one which is not, not merely embodied, 
but adored; for these are their gods under other names. 
You cannot point out a single object in the air, the 
earth, or the waters, which might be pressed into the 
service of sin, and which is not actually so employed. 
You cannot discover a single individual who is not 
acting on every other being in all that countless mass 
in confirmation of their common depravity. You can¬ 
not name a sense of the body, a faculty of the soul, an 
evil propensity of our nature, which is not seized and 
held fast by as many hands as some of their false 
divinities possess, and which does not lend its willing 
aid in return. You cannot name a single moment, 
from birth to death, in which the whole of this infernal 
machinery is not everywhere in destructive activity, 
shedding poison, and raining death; an activity, com¬ 
pared with which, the utmost mechanical velocity, or 
the still greater activity of the material elements them¬ 
selves, are mere quiet and repose. 

And having surveyed this dense array of evil—having 
explored this living continent of depravity—do you 
wonder that God does not burn it from the earth?— 
does not forthwith sweep the whole of these myriads 
away with the besom of destruction ? Them! Destroy 
them! Their guilt is, in one respect, venial, compared 
with the sin of the Christian Church. Their state, 
fearful as it is, is explicable, compared with the conduct 
of those who hold in their hands the known means of 
their rescue, but refuse to employ them. 

Look, we entreat you, look at those myriads again. 
You think, perhaps, that you do see them; many, at 


432 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


least, may flatter themselves that they do; but, no, they 
have not yet—their conduct proves it. See, the count¬ 
less mass is at worship—before the throne ot Satan, 
glowing as with the heat of an infernal furnace—with 
rage, lust, and cruelty, for their religious emotions. 
Look at them again—their demon worship is over; 
but, are they satisfied ? How eager their looks ! how 
objectless and restless their movements ! how the living 
mass of misery heaves, and surges, and groans, and 
travails in pain together ! 

Look at them once more; they are travellers into 
eternity; mark, how vast the procession they form, 
how close their ranks, how continuous the line, how 
constant and steady the advance ! Do you see them 
now ? , Then you see that angry cloud which hangs 
over their ranks—which moves as they move—and 
which ever and anon emits a lurid flash ; it is stored 
with the materials of judicial wrath. Do you mark 
them still? Then you see that thousands of them have 
reached the edge of a tremendous gulf—it is the gulf 
of perdition, and they are standing on the very brink. 
Are you sure that you see them ? God of mercy ! they 
are falling over—they are gone ! And we never, never 
tried to save them! Father, forgive us, we know not 
what we do. Saviour of sinners, spare us yet another 
year. We know they are lost—lost to happiness and 
lost to thee! We could have told them of thee— 
shown them thy cross—given them thy Gospel—pointed 
them the way to heaven. But they are lost ! 

Talk not of enthusiasm ! He who has felt most, has 
not yet felt enough. We are speaking of scenes of 
misery over which a Paul wept with anguish ! We are 
living in the very world for which Christ bled in agony ! 
Those very scenes which hardly raise an emotion in us, 
are the scenes which moved the heart of God—which 
produced the Cross of Christ. So that were every 
Christian to tremble with emotion—were the members 
of every Church to meet on the subject, to start from 
their supineness as one man, and to utter a loud cry of 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 433 

lamentation—were the whole Church to be seized as in 
travail for souls, it would be only what sympathy with 
Christ requires, and what the state of a perishing world 
demands. 

IV. The duty of intense devotedness to the work of 
imparting the Gospel is greatly increased by the remark¬ 
able manner in which Providence has brought and 
placed the world at our feet in order to receive it. 

There might have been but one unenlightened district 
left on the face of the earth—but one unconverted man 
—and he a miserable object, the lone inhabitant of some 
distant and desert isle. Yet such is the human soul, 
so incomparably superior, owing to its spiritual nature, 
its endless duration, and its vast capabilities, to the 
whole material universe, and so momentous an object 
is its recovery in the estimation of Christ, that, if neces¬ 
sary, it would be the duty of all the other inhabitants 
of the earth to have embarked their treasures, joined 
their supplications, combined and taxed their utmost 
resources, for the conversion of that solitary man. But 
if all this would be justified for the salvation of one 
man—if a particle less than all this would be a betrayal 
of our trust, an insult to all immortal natures, and 
treason against the throne of Christ, when only one soul 
was concerned, what must be the guilt of less than 
entire devotedness when the unconverted are so many 
that they are crowded in cities, swarming on islands, 
overflowing continents, teeming every where ? If when 
the Church had so far “multiplied, and replenished the 
earth,” as to have left but a single district unenlightened, 
it would yet be bound, if necessary, to devote all its 
united energies to the recovery of that solitary region, 
where could we find language strong enough to describe 
the inconsistency of that region, if on the contrary sup¬ 
position that it alone possessed the Gospel, and all the 
rest of the earth were perishing, it yet contented itself 
with a few cheap and easy expressions of concern for 
their salvation ? 


37 


434 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


But though this supposition partially represents our 
actual position and conduct in relation to the heathen 
world, our opportunities of saving them might have 
been such as to render the attempt all but hopeless. 
We might have been held in cruel slavery, unable to 
move without a chain ; or the scattered inhabitants of some 
arctic region, comparatively cut off from intercourse with 
the rest of the world ; or imprisoned, for every Mis¬ 
sionary purpose, in the heart of a vast continent ; or 
the idolatrous nations generally might be so averse to 
Christianity, as rigorously to inflict death on any of its 
agents, who might dare to approach them. And yet, if 
even then, less than entire devotedness to the world’s 
salvation, would have been the highest guilt, by what 
plea can we now excuse ourselves for less, when the 
world in a sense, is given into our hands ? We might 
have been originally an island of barbarians, the prey 
of every roving pirate, and the trembling victims of 
civilized oppression. And, if then the dayspring from 
on high had visited us, and prepared us for all our 
subsequent improvement—if, as our ancient oppressors 
declined and were recalled from the stage of action, ice 
gradually emerged and rose into national importance— 
if, when the ark of the truth was in danger, we were 
honoured by God to act as its defenders—if, as often 
as our foes combined to destroy us, they were not only 
defeated, but doomed to the mortification of seeing us 
rise to greater prominence than before—if a name and 
a character became ours which operated universally in 
our favour as a moral charm—if our commerce were 
welcomed in almost every port—if our political influ¬ 
ence were felt in every cabinet—if surrounding powers 
were dispossessed of their foreign dependencies that we 
might enjoy them—and if other vast and populous 
regions of the earth came unexpectedly into our pos¬ 
session, till a considerable portion of the race were 
sitting at our feet—should we not feel that each stage 
of our course had brought with it an increase of re¬ 
sponsibility, till our position had become one which 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


4S5 


left us no alternative, but that of entire consecration to 
its duties ? But who does not know that this is far 
below the reality of our history ? 

What was our political condition only a century ago ? 
The great powers which divided the empire of the world 
did not reckon us among them. The total number of 
British subjects, including those of all our dependencies, 
did not exceed 13 , 000 , 000 . What is their number now ?• 
Upwards of 152 , 000 , 000 ; which is more than a sixth 
portion of the human race ; considerably more than the 
population of the ancient Roman empire ; nearly double 
that of the nations now subject to Mahometan rulers; 
and greatly exceeding the number of those who acknow¬ 
ledge the supremacy of the Pope. In order to this, 
we have been permitted to succeed to the possessions 
of Holland and of Portugal in India—to the empire of 
the Mahometan sovereigns of India—to the com¬ 
mercial ascendency of the Venetians in the Levant—to 
a political and moral ascendency more nearly approach¬ 
ing to universal empire than probably any other nation 
of which we read in the pages of history. But why ? 
The believer in revelation has but one reply. Why 
was each of the great nations of antiquity made in suc¬ 
cession the leader of the world; why, but that it might 
answer some specific moral purpose, corresponding with 
its advantages and obligations ? But failing to fulfil its 
high vocation, there came forth the likeness of a man’s 
hand, and wrote the doom of each, and gave its power 
to another. 

u When do you expect that your nation will recover 
its power in India ?” said an Englishman to a Portuguese 
priest of Goa, soon after the power of Portugal in India 
had been overthrown. The priest replied, u As soon 
as the wickedness of your nation shall exceed that of 
ours.” We hold India by the imperative condition, 
that we subserve the designs of Providence respecting 
it; let that condition be violated, and the possession 
ceases with the infraction. Our ascendency and advan- 


436 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


tages are so many talents of mighty worth ; and he who 
has conferred them has done so with deep calculation, 
and for a special end. They constitute Britain the 
centre around which at this time revolve the hopes and 
destinies of man. But whatever the nation is, it is for 
the Church. The military conquests of the former, 
have been permitted only for the peaceful achievements 
of the latter. Territorial enlargements and political 
influence have been given us only to prepare the way 
and create a sphere for our Missionary efforts. But 
who can measure the largeness of that sphere, count up 
the population which it contains, and remember that 
our opportunity for giving them the Gospel is only for 
an appointed time—without feeling that for the Church 
to lose a moment, or neglect an effort, for saving them, 
is treachery to itself, murderous cruelty to them, and 
trifling with God ? And the call for this unremitting 
concern becomes more urgent from the fact that, as 
a nation we have obtained much of our political influence 
over them by an energy of application to our object in 
which treasures and lives, by hundreds and thousands, 
have been treated as the small dust of the balance. Shall 
less energy be exhibited by the Church militant, in 
claiming them as the subjects of Him who is King of 
kings, and Lord of lords ? 

And still further is this demand on our devotedness 
increased by the fact that a very large proportion of 
the heathen of whom we speak, not only ascribe our 
mutual position to an invisible hand, but are actually 
ready to place themselves as disciples at our feet. 
Hundreds of thousands of them may be said to he 
standing at this moment on the threshold of the temple 
of idolatry, ready to quit it for ever. Shall we call 
them into the Church of Christ, or shall we remand 
them back to rekindle the fires of their Moloch ? and 
to rebuild the altars of their demon worship ? Mul¬ 
titudes of them are standing at the gates of the Chris¬ 
tian Church—the hand of Providence has directed them 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


437 


there—they bring with them signs from heaven that he 
has sent them, and that he expects us to receive and 
instruct them. Are we ready to make the sacrifices 
which the occasion requires ? At all events, if we will 
persist in neglecting them let us plainly avow the reason. 


Before we finally dismiss them to destruction, let us, 
by public manifesto, or otherwise, exculpate Chris¬ 
tianity, and blame the only guilty cause by telling them, 
“Your conversion to the Christian faith is an object of 
the highest importance. To effect it, would greatly 
augment our heavenly happiness; secure infinite bless¬ 
edness to you ; and bring to God everlasting glory. As 
far as our instrumentality is necessary, the means are 
all in our possession. But we cannot furnish them with¬ 
out abridging our self-indulgence ; and as this requires 
more love for your souls and regard for the authority 
of Christ than we possess, we see no alternative but that 
of leaving you to perish.” Now startling as such lan¬ 
guage may seem, by what other terms can we excuse 
ourselves from entire devotedness to their salvation ? 

V. Some have exhibited this devotedness; and here is 
another inducement to our consecration. For though 
our obligation is quite independent of what others may 
do, yet the fact, that some have entirely surrendered 
themselves to that obligation, furnishes us with an 
additional motive to do likewise, and will render us the 
more inexcusable if we do not. Are we asked the 
names of such men, and who they were ? Ask—we 
reply—ask inspiration the names of the men who first 
filled the world with the news of salvation, from the 
burning Paul to the humblest evangelist of his day. 
Ask Protestant Christendom the names of her reformers 
and confessors; and she will tell you of a Wicliffe and 
a Zuingle, a Luther, a Melanctbon, and a Huss—men 
of whom the world was not worthy. Ask our Mis¬ 
sionary Societies the names of their honoured founders 
—and they will tell you of men who travelled, pleaded, 


37* 


438 MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 

wept, while the world around them slept. Ask them 
the names of the Missionaries they most delight to 
honour, and they will give you a long list of worthies, 
from an Eliot of the seventeenth century, penetrating 
the depths of the American wilderness, to the Moravian 
heroes of the eighteenth century, braving the snows of 
Greenland, down to the man of u Missionary Enter¬ 
prises,” just gone to explore the Southern Pacific for 
fresh fields of Gospel triumph.* And what shall we 
more say ? for the time would fail us to tell of a 
Brainerd and a Stach, a Swartz and a Coke, a Martyn 
and a Morrison, a Carey and a Marshman, who through 
faith subdued kingdoms to the obedience of Christ, 
turned spears into pruning hooks, civilized savage tribes, 
smote off the fetters of the slave—gave the Bible to the 
nations—and went every where claiming those nations 
for God. Had the Grecian soldier a loftier character 
to sustain after Thermopylae and Marathon ? What 
a character have we to sustain since such men trod the 
earth ? Yet ask them the secret of their success—ask 
f/iem, we say—for they are near us—do we not feel 
their presence ? Are we not sensible of a great cloud 
of witnesses ? Ask them the secret of their success— 
and, while they point to him at whose feet they cast 
their crowns as the efficient cause—they will tell you, 
that instrumentally, they owe it to the singleness of 
their aim, the unity of their purpose, the utter devoted¬ 
ness of their lives to their great object. And yet ardent, 
devoted as they were, in what respect did they exceed 
their duty ? 

Holy, honoured, illustrious men, what are we that 
we should be admitted to your glorious fellowship! 
Had you not lived, we should have applauded deeds 
which now we must pass unnamed ! We cannot talk of 
what we give in your presence—you gave yourselves. 
We cannot boast of our enthusiasm in your hearing— 


* Now gone to his reward,, as the “Martyr of Erromanga.” 



TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.' 439 

your zeal consumed you. We dare not speak of our 
sacrifices before you—you would remind us that the 
world has had but one sacrifice, and never can have 
another—and yet you gave your lives, your all. How 
have you raised the standard of Christian action ! What 
new responsibilities have you devolved! Never can 
we vindicate our title as your successors, nor complete 
what you began, but by binding ourselves up with it, 
as you did, for life and for death. 

VI. The importance of a devoted Church will ap¬ 
pear if we reflect that the distinguishing characteristics 
of the age is that of change and transition , and that only 
such a Church is prepared to turn this peculiarity to tlse 
proper , the highest account. Never since lime began 
was the human mind in such close, quick, constant, 
sympathetic, universal communication as now. And 
consequently, never w'as there so general and thorough 
an awakening of mind as now. Look where we will, 
it is quivering with impulses, thrilling with excitement, 
restless for change, panting for a good which it has not. 
This state of things has been brought about, partly by 
Christian activity; entirely for that activity. Tlie 
world could not take the proper advantage of it, if it 
would, for it has not the means; nor would it if it 
could, for it has not the motives ; nor might it, under 
any circumstances, for the great changes and improve¬ 
ments of society are evidently reserved by God to be 
effected by his Church. Hence all the great and bene¬ 
ficial movements of the day—the liberation of the slave 
—the religious education of the young—the advancement 
of civilization, have, in fact, originated with Christians; 
and for this obvious reason, that the glory might be 
exclusively his own. But for the same reason that 
these great movements have not originated with a 
worldly philosophy, the greater and more spiritual 
changes yet to take place, will not originate with a 
worldly Church. We w r ant one of the primary means, 


440 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


which is visible union. And this makes it evident—- 
evident to the world—that we want one of the primary 
motives— that zeal for Christ, and love for souls, which 
would impel us to unite. And hence it is obvious that, 
in the eyes of the world, w T e must be wanting in weight 
of character. For, in order to obtain the direction of 
public opinion at home, and to take advantage of 
changes abroad, we must be in advance of the world ; 
in advance of its intelligence in every thing relating to 
human welfare; in advance of its benevolent activity; 
but, above all, in immeasurable advance of its character. 
Rather, we should have said, we must have a character 
of our own to which the world would never venture to 
make a pretension; a character for disinterestedness, 
liberality, self-denial, and united supplications to God ; 
a character for being always ready—ready with our 
plans, and ready with our means, for seizing every 
opening of usefulness; a character for denying ourselves 
that we might be thus ready, and yet not being sensible 
that we denied ourselves at all; a character for living 
only for one object,, to establish the reign of Christ 
upon earth. Such a character, indeed, the world might 
not admire, but could not resist. 

But is this our character ? Are w 7 e thus ready ? Are 
not a thousand doors of usefulness standing open at 
this moment, in India alone, which we are not prepared 
to enter ? Are we not distracted between the scanti¬ 
ness of our present available resources, and the number 
and diversity of the demands made on them ? Yet the 
world knows full well, and we know too, that were we 
truly in earnest, we could multiply these resources a 
thousand fold. The world knows, and we know loo, 
that the tax paid by the country on a single article of 
luxury, exceeds all that Christians contribute to 
religious objects ; and that, of that tax on self-indul¬ 
gence, Christians pay a large proportion, despite the 
cries of a perishing world. Now what is all this but a 
want of character; a want of weight with the world; 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 441 

I 

a want of readiness to lake the direction of its move¬ 
ments ; a want of fitness to be honoured and employed 
by God in that capacity; a want of that which nothing 
else could supply, but which itself could supply the 
want of every thing else; for a Christian Church 
thoroughly imbued with the Spirit of Christ, and de¬ 
voted to the great object of its existence would find in 
its character, an amount of wealth, influence, and 
moral power, to which the world would render involun¬ 
tary homage, and which God would crown with distin¬ 
guished success. 

VII. Connected with this view is another considera¬ 
tion : if the present be an age of transition and change, it 
is, on that very account, the commencement of a new era ; 
on us it devolves to give the first impulse to that era ; but 
that first impulse is likely to impart more or less of its 
own character to the whole era of which it is the com¬ 
mencement—likely to propagate its influence on to the 
end of time; how unspeakably important, then, that 
the impulse should be of the most holy, ardent, and 
scriptural kind ; in a word, that it should be given by 
men living to Christ. 

It is the undying, self-propagating nature of our 
moral influence, which invests every thing we do with 
so much importance ; its immediate effect may be 
trivial, but who shall calculate consequences never end¬ 
ing, ever expanding ? Christian parents, the scale on 
which you give is likely to affect the liberality of your 
children’s children to the remotest generation. Chris¬ 
tians, you are living for futurity. The character you 
impress on the age is not to die with you—it is the 
legacy you will bequeath to posterity. The influence 
you are now putting into circulation is not to be limited 
to the present; it will reach to those you never saw, 
and descend to other times. Churches of Christ, re¬ 
flect, traces of your character will reappear ages hence, 
in the Churches of India and Africa, China and Japan— 


442 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


of shores yet undiscovered, and nations yet unformed. 
You are giving Christianity to posterity : what kind of 
a Christianity are you giving it ? a languid, feeble, 
spiritless thing, or a system instinct with life ? Shall 
it go forth to the world, and down to the future, covered 
with the honours and repeating the achievements of its 
first days? or a half-hearted, torpid, self-indulging sys¬ 
tem, living on the world’s sufferance, and struggling on 
for a bare existence ? Remote generations summon us 
to duty ; and adjure us, by the responsibility of our 
present position—by the bright hopes we cherish of 
millennial bliss—and by the certainty that the impulse 
we are now giving to religion will impart a character to 
that bliss—a lustre or a shade—that we give them the 
Christianity of Apostolic times, fresh from the Cross, 
and glowing with the fire of a Paul. 

VIII. But from all this it follows that nothing done 
for Christ is lost; and that as the whole, with all its 
immediate and remote results, will eventually form a 
subject of interesting retrospection, it supplies us with 
a powerful motive to present devotedness. We mean 
not to intimate that the costliest service we can render 
has any inherent worth, or any independent influence, 
to produce the smallest spiritual results. But we do 
mean to say, that nothing scripturally done for Christ 
is lost; that of every such act he graciously takes the 
charge—appoints it a place in his system of means— 
and causes it to move in a line parallel with the great 
laws of his government. 

Say, what of all the past is lost ? the mites of the 
widow ? True, the gift in itself was small, the act 
trivial; but she has, in high moral effect, been giving 
them daily ever since. They have multiplied into mil¬ 
lions. Those mites have formed an inexhaustible fund ; 
and to the end of time will constitute for the Church an 
ever-augmenting treasury of wealth. What is lost ? 
the labours of those who first took the Mission field, 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


443 


and who have already fallen ? True, they failed in 
some of their immediate ends, and fell comparatively 
unwept. But, holy, honoured men, your day of moral 
power is yet to come. Already, your names are our 
titles; your memory is our inspiration; your noble 
deeds are our heraldry; your example, a precious part 
of our inheritance. By the perusal of your tale shall 
many a youthful bosom swell with the sacred ambition 
of living to Christ in heathen lands; and, as he hears 
your name pronounced with benedictions, or touches 
the soil which contains your hallowed dust, or opens 
the sacred page which you first laboriously unlocked 
to wandering eyes—your memory shall fire his zeal, 
and in his labours shall you live again. What is lost ? 
the blood of the martyrs ? True, they fell. The car 
ot the demon to which they were sacrificed, rolled over 
them and on; u their ashes flew, no marble tells us 
whither;” the voices which bewailed them sank into 
silence ; the tyranny which crushed them waxed stronger 
and stronger; and age followed age apparently only to 
blacken their names, or to proclaim that they had lived 
and died in vain. But did they ? Let the history of 
Truth struggling with Error ever since testify. Never 
have their sufferings ceased to thrill the general heart. 
Long have some of their softest whispers at the stake, 
been oracles to support the suffering, and watchwords 
to animate the valiant for the truth. 

And such shall be your honoured destiny, martyrs of 
Madagascar! Precious were your deaths in the eyes 
of your Lord. Precious in our eyes is every drop of 
your blood. And the time shall come when precious 
shall be the spot where you were speared in the eyes 
of your own people. At present they deem you van¬ 
quished. But they never fail who die for Christ. That 
land belongs to Him. And, when he assumes his right, 
your wounds shall plead for him ; the spear that pierced 
you shall blossom and bud ; your martyrdom, subser¬ 
vient to a higher influence, shall give a resistless im¬ 
pulse to the cause of truth. 


444 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


That time will come; the time when Christ will have 
taken, not that island only, but the earth for his pos¬ 
session. The price has been paid—the transfer made— 
the time for-actual possession appointed—the approach 
of that time divinely indicated. Let us imagine that 
future period to have come. There is Christendom 
purged of its corruptions; India without its caste; 
China without its wall of selfishness; Africa without 
its chains ; earth without its curse. All its kingdoms 
consolidated into one vast spiritual empire, are happy 
in the reign of Christ, and prostrate at his feet. And 
will it form no part of the employment of that blessed 
time, to trace back that grand consummation to all the 
trains of instrumentality which led to it ? It will, 
doubtless, form a part of the occupation of heaven 
itself. And in the prosecution of that inquiry, will 
there be one period whose annals shall be referred to 
with surpassing interest ? One, from which that great 
ocean of results will be found to have derived many of 
its most important springs and streams of Christian 
influence? That period will doubtless prove our own. 
And will not he be among the happiest Christians then 
who perceives that, by embarking his all in the cause of 
Christ, he has an ample revenue of glory to lay at his 
Saviour’s feet ? 

Young men, remember this. The morning of your 
life, and the morning of a glorious day, are dawning 
together. Would you inscribe your names on a page 
which shall be read with interest by a renovated world ? 
In the great audit, would you stand for more than a 
unit ? Then must you spring to action at once. Delay 
awhile—and, go where you will, no country will be left 
for you to be th e first to claim for Christ; no language 
remain for you to consecrate b y first pronouncing in it 
the name of Christ; no single tribe to whom you can 
present the first Bible ! Happy deprivation ! and is 
nothing left—no lofty mark for Christian ambition to 
aim at ? Yes, the Church has left you one, at least— 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


445 


and that the loftiest of all. There is yet left to you the 
high distinction of not living to yourselves. Aim 
at, and exhibit that distinction ; and, at the period of 
retrospection of which we speak, it shall be found that 
if others began an era of activity, it was yours to 
eclipse them by commencing an era of devotedness. 

IX. But we ascend to higher reasons still. All 
things belong to Christ by original mediatorial right , and 
xoere constructed by him expressly with a view to subserve 
his mediatorial plan. u All things were created by him, 
and for him.” u He is both the First and the Last,” 
the efficient and the final cause of all things. The 
creation of the universe is not to be regarded as an 
act terminating in itself; or as performed merely for 
the purpose of exhibiting as much of the Divine glory 
as, taken by itself, it was calculated to display. Nor 
is the mediatorial office of Christ to be regarded as an 
afterthought—a supplementary appointment in conse¬ 
quence of the unexpected derangement and failure of a 
previous design. The constitution of a Mediator is to 
be viewed as having been the primary step toward the 
creation of the universe. Nor is the introduction of 
sin to be regarded as having been originated or neces¬ 
sitated by this original arrangement. On the contrary, 
it implies that the evil having been infallibly foreseen, 
the entire plan of the Divine procedure was laid with a 
view to an adequate remedy. Creation itself, there¬ 
fore, was a mediatorial act ; and every thing made was 
expressly intended to answer to the great remedial 
design, and was so made as to be best adapted for the 
purpose. 

It follows, then, that no part of creation answers its 
highest end until it becomes subservient to the designs 
of Christ. Numerous other ends it may answer ; many 
of them may be important ends ; and all of them may 
be allowable; but failing of subserviency to the media¬ 
torial government of Christ, it fails of the chief end 

38 


446 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


for which it was brought into existence. It was not 
till the earth echoed the first promise, and became a 
theatre for unfolding the scheme of mercy which that 
promise enclosed, that it was promoted to the grand 
office of its creation. It was not till the objects and 
elements of nature became recognised images and 
emblems of that great scheme, that the true reason 
of their existence and particular construction was made 
known. The offices of prophet, priest, and king, of 
father, husband, and friend, found not their true dis¬ 
tinction till they became known types of the media¬ 
torial relations of Christ. Till Christ assumed our 
nature, the great reason for the existence of humanity 
itself remained undeveloped, and until he died, the 
temple of the universe may be said to have been de¬ 
stitute except in the divine intention, of altar, sacrifice, 
and priest. The cross, was the true centre of the world 
made visible. And hereafter it will be clearly seen 
that all nations, objects, and events, answered their real 
design only as they revolved in subordination around 
it; that it never moved but all things were meant to 
fall into its train ; never stood, but all things were 
called to bow down before it; never spoke, but they 
were all expected to echo its voice. It will, as we have 
shown, be distinctly seen, that wealth attained its true 
destination only when it fell into the treasury of Christ; 
that speech realized its grand design only when it 
became u a means of grace that all the relationships 
of life, and all the mutual influences with which those 
relationships invest us, found their proper end only 
when they harmonized with the central influence 
streaming from the Cross. 

But what powerful motives does this view of the 
mediatorial lordship of Christ supply to our entire 
consecration to his service. For until the great design 
of the office be fulfilled in the spiritual recovery of the 
world, the unnecessary diversion of a single particle of 
irffluence from his cause, is an act of rebellion against 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 447 

his authority. Had such a diversion been the first and 
solitary instance of the kind ever known, it could not 
have occurred without exciting a burst of loyal indig¬ 
nation from every part of the divine dominions. How 
much greater the guilt then of such an alienation now 
when the rebellion is so general that nearly cc all 
things” on earth, u created by him and for him,” are 
turned and pointed against him. Had an angel been 
sent down to stand between us and every such act, it 
should not have deterred us so powerfully as this con¬ 
sideration. Wherever we look, we may rest assured 
that his eye is resting at the same moment on all 
within the circle, with a look of sovereign and jealous 
appropriation. On whatever we may lay our hand, his 
hand has been there before us, and left a sign which 
marks it entirely for his own. Wherever we may go— 
into the bosom of the family—the place of business— 
the seat of power and national government—he is there 
before us to assert his original claim, and to impress 
on every thing the solemn sentence, u by me, and for 
me.” 

Little, indeed, do the rulers of the earth think of 
any higher end than that of national prosperity and 
aggrandizement; and matter of high scorn would it be 
to them, to be told that in the true system of things 
they come after the Christian Missionary, and are ap¬ 
pointed to minister in his train. Little do the men of 
science, commerce, and power, concern themselves to 
inquire why “the sea and the dry land” were originally 
distributed into their present geographical form; why 
an insignificant island should hold distant and populous 
nations in dependency; and why tides and oceans roll 
between. They need to be reminded, however, that in 
the government of Christ there is a reason for all this, 
and that that reason is worthy of him for whom the 
whole exists; that it is something higher and greater 
than that of merely supplying their tables with luxu¬ 
ries, or even their coffers with funds. They are to be 


448 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


told that, could they be taken to the summit of that 
lofty reason, they would be able to command a view of 
both eternities; that on looking down upon the move¬ 
ments of time, in vain would they look for the signs of 
their own existence, unless they are living for Christ; 
that, from that height, the light of heaven falls on 
nothing which is not directly or indirectly advancing 
his great design; that it is reflected from the path of 
the Christian preacher with a strength which throws 
the track of an army into the shade, and from the 
vessel conveying a herald of salvation to some heathen 
shore with a lustre, which leaves a warlike navy in¬ 
volved in midnight darkness. 

But if all things are for him, why are they not with 
him ? Why will they not find the perfection of their 
nature, and the reason of their existence, in his service ? 
It is not that they are not needed. So vast and full of 
grace is the design of the mediatorial economy, that it 
wants them all—has work for them all. It cannot do 
without them—consistently, that is, with existing ap¬ 
pointments—it cannot do without them. They are the 
only instruments which it chooses to work with. It 
seeks to enlist into its service all the relations which 
bind us together; and all the natural means by which 
we influence each other. It claims the infant heart, by 
looking at it through the eyes, and caressing it in the 
tones of maternal love. The father’s authority—the 
sister’s entreaty—the brother’s warning—the servant’s 
fidelity—the tradesman’s integrity and weight of cha¬ 
racter—the persuasions of friendship—the active at¬ 
tention of neighbourly kindness—the disinterested 
benevolence of public life—the powerful influence of 
righteous government—it wants them all, has work for 
them all. And even if it had them, the kindest tones 
cannot equal the tenderness of its entreaties; the hot¬ 
test tears cannot express its anguish over human misery ; 
the most throbbing heart cannot beat quick enough to 
satisfy its eager longing for human salvation; all the 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


449 


influence which collective man could wield in its behalf, 
could not do justice to its free, and full, and gushing 
benevolence—could not furnish channels wide and 
deep enough to pour forth the ocean fulness of its 
grace. 

. X. But the great Gospel argument for such conse¬ 
cration, is one superinduced on that of the original right 
of Christ, and is known and felt by the Christian alone— 
the claim of redemption. “What! know ye not, that 
ye are not your own ? for ye are bought with a price !” 
The fact that Christ is our Creator and Proprietor, 
gives him, as we have seen, a right in us which nothing 
can ever alienate ; but on this right, original and un¬ 
alienable as it is, he does not often insist. The fact 
that we have ever been cared for by his providence, 
that we have never been out of the arms of infinite 
tenderness, gives him a claim on us which nothing can 
ever cancel; but on this claim, strong and subduing as 
it is, he does not ordinarily insist. He has a claim 
more powerful and affecting still—the fact that he has 
bought us—bought us with a price ! He comparatively 
waives every other ground of claim, and trusts to this 
alone. He knows that all other claims are included in 
it or connected with it; that this may be felt after the 
heart has become insensible to every other claim; that 
it is the last and strongest plea which Infinite Love 
itself can employ. 

And what a claim it is—the claim of redemption ! 
Alas, that our familiarity with it should ever diminish 
its freshness and force; that we do not always feel as if 
the price had only just been paid—the mystery of the 
Cross just transpired ! To think that there should 
have been a period in our history when we were lost; 
lost to ourselves—all our capacity for enjoyment being 
turned by sin into a felt capacity for suffering ; lost to 
the design of our creation—all our powers of serving 
Christ being perverted into instruments of hostility 

38* 


450 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


against him ; lost to the society of heaven—the place 
which awaited us there to remain eternally vacant; the 
part we should have taken in the chorus of the blessed, 
to remain for ever unfilled ; heaven itself, as far as in 
us lay, turned into a place of mourning and desolation ; 
lost to God—to the right of beholding, approaching, 
and adoring the vision of his eternal glory! To think 
that, in point of law, w 7 e were thus lost as truly as if 
the hand of justice had seized us, had led us down to 
our place in woe, drawn on us the bolts of the dreadful 
prison, and as if years of wretchedness and ages of 
darkness had rolled over us there. Well may we ask 
ourselves, again and again, how is it we are here ? here 
in the blessed light of day ; here, in the still more 
blessed light of God’s countenance ; here, like children 
sitting in their father’s smiles ? Why is this ; and how 
has it come to pass ? Has justice relaxed its demands ? 
or have the penal flames become extinct ? What, 
know ye not that ye are bought with a price ! It is 
the theme of the universe. Look on that glorious being 
descending from heaven in the form of God—know 
ye not u the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”—that 
he sought no resting-place between his throne and 
the Cross ? Behold that Cross; know ye not that 
“ he loved us and gave himself for us?” that “he 
bare our sins in his own body on the tree ?” Ap¬ 
proach nearer, and look on that streaming blood; 
know ye not u the precious blood of Christ,” and that 
that blood is the price of your redemption ? Hear 
you not the voice from heaven which now says, u De¬ 
liver them from going down to the pit, for I have 
found a ransom ?” Feel you not the Spirit of God 
drawing you with gentle solicitations and gracious im¬ 
portunities to the feet of Christ ? See you not that he 
who was delivered for your offences, hath been raised 
again for your justification, and is now waiting to 
receive the homage of your love ? How much owest 
thou unto thy Lord ? Try to compute it. He asks 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


451 


only his due. So that if there be any part of your 
nature which he has not redeemed, or any thing in 
your possession for which you are not indebted to him, 
keep it back, and apply it to some other purpose. 
But does not the bare suggestion do violence to your 
new nature ? does not every part of that nature resent 
the very idea, and find a voice to exclaim, “ O Lord, 
I am thy servant, I am thy servant, thou hast loosed my 
bonds ?” 

And while standing in the presence of this match¬ 
less display of grace, and subdued by its influence, 
does the eager inquiry spring to your lips, u Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?” Do ? what can you 
do but make known that grace to others ? what can 
you do but let the stream of gratitude which his great 
love has drawn from your heart, pour itself forth into 
that channel in which a tide of mercy is rolling through 
the world, and bearing blessings to the nations ? What 
did the apostles do under similar circumstances ? So 
powerfully w’ere they constrained by the love of Christ, 
that they thus judged that instead of living as if they 
W'ere under little or no obligation to him, they should 
henceforth act as if the duty of living to him were the 
only obligation they were under; and that the best 
way of doing that would be by conveying the know¬ 
ledge of his redemption to others, and thus working 
out the grand purposes of his atoning death. What 
can you do, but let your love to Christ take the same 
form as his love to you ? and what was that but com¬ 
passion for the guilty, and active, devoted, unsparing 
efforts to save the perishing ? He, indeed, could save 
and did save, in a way in which he can never be copied ; 
but so much the greater our obligation to imitate him 
where imitation is possible ; especially too as the only 
walk of benevolence which his all-performing compas¬ 
sion has left open to us, is that which leads from his 
Cross to the sinner; and the only labour left us, that of 
endeavouring to draw all men unto him. 


452 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


XI. And this reminds us that not only are we his by 
original right, and his by redemption, but that the great 
object for which , relatively , he has brought us under 
such obligations , and for ivhich he has in addition 
formed us into a Church , is that he might engage and 
engross our instrumentality for the salvation of others. 
If “ he gave himself for us,” it was “that he might 
purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good 
works.” If we are “created in Christ Jesus,” we are 
created “unto good works.” “What! know ye not 
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which 
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your 
own? for ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify 
God in your body and in your spirit, which are his.” 
What! can you have allowed an analogy so obvious as 
that which exists between a temple and a believer, to 
escape your notice ? Angels mark it; and that is one 
reason why they rejoice over the sinner when he re¬ 
pents ; they know that God is consecrating another 
living temple, is advancing another step towards the 
completion of that universal temple destined to resound 
through eternity with the echoes of his praise. God 
himself designs it; designs, that the consecrated cha¬ 
racter of the temple on Zion shall be copied and re¬ 
peated in the devoted character of every living temple. 

If then, we would see the pattern of our Christian 
devotedness, let us go, in imagination, and survey the 
temple and its service. Are we not conscious of a holy 
awe stealing over our minds as we approach it? Such 
should be the feeling which the presence of the Chris¬ 
tian inspires—that he is a man set apart for God. Let 
us enter the sacred precincts, cross the threshold, and 
look around—all its priests are the annointed servants of 
God—all its vessels holiness to the Lord—all its parts 
sprinkled with blood. Can we imagine any thing which 
we see in it, taken and applied to any other than 
temple purposes, without a sense of profanation? that 
priest, for instance, just offering the victim, polluted 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


453 


with licentiousness ? that sacred vessel, taken away and 
turned into a cup of intemperance ? that altar, trans¬ 
ferred for a time to the temple of Moloch ? or the 
temple itself, lent, during the interval of God’s worship, 
to celebrate the orgies of some idol god ? The very 
thought seems profanation, blasphemy ! and why, but 
because we feel that the place is sacred to God through¬ 
out, and should be entirely and exclusively devoted to 
his service ? Well, know ye not that the Christian is 
now the temple of God ? and that he has claims on our 
devotedness which he could never have on a material 
temple—the claim that every thing we are and have 
belongs by purchase to the God of the temple ? and 
that, by voluntarily and cordially devoting the whole to 
him, he counts himself glorified ? u Thou that ab- 
horrest idols dost thou commit sacrilege ?” 

And not only every individual believer, but every 
particular Church, is a living temple. Its members, 
u as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy 
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ.” And may we not suppose, 
must we not believe, that as often as we meet in this 
capacity the Lord of the temple himself comes amongst 
us ? Must we not conclude, that as he walks in the 
midst of the churches, marking the character of their 
services and the degree of their devotedness, his eyes 
are as a flame of fire ? Is the particular church, then, 
to which we belong prepared for the searching inspec¬ 
tion ? Does he find our knowledge of his salvation— 
the first Christian talent with which he intrusts us— 
kept, like a vessel of the sanctuary, bright and bur¬ 
nished, by constant use ? Our speech—do “ the lips 
of the priest keep knowledge,” and the people “order 
their conversation aright ?” Are our tongues like living 
censers for offering up the incense of praise ? The 
influence arising from our relationship—are we employ¬ 
ing it as a golden cord for drawing others with us into 
the Divine presence ? Does he find none of his pro- 


454 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


perty abstracted from the treasury, and lavished on 
worldly objects ? or it is all ready to meet his claims ? 
Is self-denial among us, hearing its cross, and presenting 
its precious oblations? And Christian activity and 
zeal, flaming like an altar of sacrifice, and ready to say, 
“ the zeal of thine house hath consumed me ?” and 
prayer, interceding for the world ; wrestling with God 
for a universal blessing ? Souls are perishing—souls 
have been perishing during the whole time of our con¬ 
nexion with the Church, and that Church has been 
appointed instrumentally to save them ; amidst the wide 
wasting ruin of immortal spirits perpetually going on 
around 11s, have we, by prayers, by entreaties, by the 
Spirit of God, saved one ? We stand related to the 
whole Church—to the entire world—and the present is 
a time in which that relation is daily becoming more 
visible, and entailing increased responsiblity. Louder 
voices, and loftier claims, are summoning us to action, 
than any which the churches of former times have ever 
heard. Do we mark the Divine indications in this 
respect; and sympathize with the cries of the world ; 
and with the office of the Church, as a great Missionary 
Society, to answer those cries ? Are we exciting each 
other to come to the help of the Lord ; and aspiring to 
lead the van of the Christian enterprise ? Is the influ¬ 
ence of our Christian activity made to be felt around ? 
are other churches glorifying God in us ? has the world 
reason to bless God for our existence ? 

But, if each particular church, still more is the 
Church universal to be regarded in the light of a temple 
devoted to the service of Christ. Shall the Lord of 
the temple claim its entire consecration in person ? 
Why may we not suppose him to descend, and appear 
in the midst of his people, to enforce the claim ? But 
how should we prepare for his reception ? and what 
will he expect at our hands ? “ Blow ye the trumpet; 

sanctify a fast ; call a solemn assembly.” Every Chris¬ 
tian of every denomination, “holding the head,” should 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


455 


be summoned—for the occasion equally concerns us all. 
All we have must be brought into his presence—our 
children must be sent for, our property, our means of 
every description—whatever can be employed in his 
service. Nothing must be forgotten—nothing kept 
back. Thus prepared for his arrival, behold him come ! 
him —the victim of Calvary—the Head of the Church— 
the Saviour of the world—clothed, as when John beheld 
him, in priestly attire; and, in his countenance, majesty 
blended with tenderness and rebuke. Looking around 
on the hushed and breathless assembly, he may be sup¬ 
posed to say, in accents which thrill through every 
soul, u Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a 
price. Your bodies, your spirits, your children, your 
property, your churches—all these are mine. For this 
cause, I died and rose again, that I might be Lord of 
the whole. I come to claim it. If you can name any 
faculty of your nature which I have not ransomed ; 
any moment of your time which I do not confer; any 
thing here in your possession which might not be 
employed in my service, it is yours to use at pleasure. 
Recall the past; if you can name any effort, however 
feeble, made in harmony with my will, but made in 
vain, with such efforts I dispense. Survey the world ! 
if you can point to a spot where the destroyer of souls 
is not working the great system of destruction, that 
spot I allow you to pass by. Call for your race; let 
them pass before you in their nations and tribes; if you 
can point out one soul which is not in danger of per¬ 
dition ; one which my blood cannot cleanse ; one which 
does not belong to me—him I allow you to neglect. 
Hearken, and you may hear the loud and piercing cry of 
souls perishing; if you can ever listen attentively without 
hearing it; if you can discover a pause in that fearful 
cry even for a moment, during that moment I allow you 
to relax. But no, it is incessant; how long shall it 
continue ? Shall not India have a Cross ? Shall not 
Africa have a Gospel ? the world their Saviour ? True, 


456 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


you have begun to lift the Cross before the eyes of the 
nations ; and wherever you have done so, angels have 
had to celebrate its triumphs. But your talents unem¬ 
ployed, your resources unexplored, your opportunities 
unimproved, evince how small the sympathy you have 
hitherto felt with it. Lift it higher, that more may see 
it; and higher still, that all the ends of the earth may 
behold it. I died for the world. Go, and proclaim it 
to every creature. The resources necessary are in your 
possession. I see them around me; and I accept the 
surrender. For this alone have I waited. All things 
now are ready. The fulness of time for the world’s 
recovery has at length arrived. Nothing shall now 
delay the great consummation. The sabbath of time 
has come—the jubilee of the world. I hear its gather¬ 
ing sounds of joy. I see its myriads flocking—all flesh 
coming to pray before the Lord—my righteousness their 
only robe, my name their only plea. My people, my 
own, my blood-bought Church, if ye know the grace 
of your Lord Jesus Christ, if his love can move your 
hearts, if his glory be dear in your eyes, be faithful to 
your trust; unite your resources ; devote your energies ; 
live for me. God himself from his throne shall rejoice 
over you, the eternal Spirit shall give efficacy to your 
every act; and then, soon shall you see a converted 
world, and I shall see of the travail of my soul and be 
satisfied. While earth with all her tongues, and 
heaven with all her harps, shall together roll the tri¬ 
umphant song, “ Alleluia, the Lord God omnipotent 
reig;nelh.” 

But this is the identical strain in which our Lord 
is to be regarded as constantly addressing us. In what 
other terms can we reply but by saying, Blessed Saviour 
we are here before thee; we are thine. Do with us 
as seemeth good in thy sight. Only forgive the past. 
Breathe on us thine own Holy Spirit. Accept now our 
entire dedication; and, henceforth, by thy grace, we 
will live to reclaim the world which thou hast died 
to redeem. 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 457 

XII. Only let these sentiments of devotedness be 
embodied by the Christian Church, and the honour and 
triumph of the Gospel will he complete. And never till 
then, will even the evidences of Christianity be complete. 
The logical argument for its truth, indeed, is perfect; no 
chain of reasoning can be more entire. But were its 
miracles to be all repeated again, and its prophecies to 
be multiplied a hundred-fold, some signal display of the 
power and excellence of its motives would still be 
wanting as the practical result of the whole. That 
signal proof is simply Christian consistency— the con¬ 
sistency of a devoted Church. In lieu of this, the 
world will accept nothing—not even the most con¬ 
vincing arguments and cogent appeals; “give us,” thev 
say, u a practical proof that you yourselves believe and 
are in earnest.” Christ will accept nothing—not even 
the loudest professions ; “ if ye love me,” saith he, 
“keep my commandments :” we ourselves can accept 
nothing—not even the activity of the Missionary enter¬ 
prise—our consciences testify against us, and say, “ all 
this activity is far less than you can do ; and you are 
pledged to do all that is possible for the recovery of the 
world. But where is your self-denial ? As yet, you 
have given only the crumbs that fall from your table ; 
where is your consecration ? At present you act only 
from occasional impulse, or compunction, or the lowest 
degree of principle ; where is the weight of your 
character ? Not merely is it wanting—well would it 
be if this were all—but it is against you ; in exact 
proportion as it is absent from the cause of Christ, it is 
present to assist and promote the cause of his foes—to 
prolong the ruin of immortal souls. Until this evil be 
remedied, therefore, expect to be kept low, humbled 
and disgraced before the world ; to be strangers to 
every thing like pentecostal visitations from on high; 
to be fearful, uncertain, and unhappy in yourselves. 
But only remedy the evil—only be consistent—and then 
“arise and shine, for thy light will have come, and the 
glory of the Lord will have arisen upon thee.” 

39 


458 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


What could stand before the Gospel of Christ, were 
all the spirituality of its doctrines, the holiness of its 
precepts, and the earnest and compassionate benevolence 
of its aims, embodied and made visible in the living 
character of its disciples ? Who could doubt the reality 
of its miracles, when the Church was seen standing 
upon them, so to speak, as on the mount of God, 
herself the crowning miracle—the great moral miracle 
of a vast community living, not unto themselves, but 
unto him that died for them, and rose again ? Who 
could question the truth of prophecy, when the fulfil¬ 
ment of a thousand prophecies was realized in that 
sublime spectacle itself; when the Church herself be¬ 
came a standing prophecy ; her every act a presage 
of success; her every conflict, a prediction of victory ; 
her consecrated character, as the representative of her 
Lord’s character, prophesying to the world, in mute 
but mighty eloquence, that to him every knee must 
bow ? Who could doubt the reality, the superiority, 
the divinity of the Gospel, when it had thus transferred 
the whole might of its own character to the character 
of the Church ? We ourselves could not—though now, 
as the necessary result of our superficial acquaintance 
with that power, we often do—but then, in the large¬ 
ness of its views we should acquire such an expansion 
of soul, and in the execution of its lofty purpose, such 
a sympathy with true greatness, as would make the 
weak like David, and David like an angel of the Lord. 
The world around us could not; as in primitive times, 
“fear would come upon every soul;” God would give 
us “favour with all the people,” and would add “to 
the Church daily such as should be saved.” Nor could 
the heathen themselves; their great argument against 
Christianity would be gone; the main objection with 
which our comparative apathy arms them, would, by 
the very change of our conduct, be converted into an 
irresistible plea in its behalf. 

Who, that is acquainted with history, does not know 
the powerful influence of superior character ? The 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


459 


world has nothing to compare with it. Laws, armies, 
revolutions, are only its creatures, or visible expressions. 
What deep homage the world has often paid to it! 
Royalty has trembled before it, till throne and sceptre 
shook. A nation, in the crisis of its existence, has 
passed by the palace, and gone in full confidence of aid 
to the cottage—the aid of character. An army in its 
peril has sued to it, as in the instance of Swartz, and 
been saved by it. The history of Christian Missions 
proves that whole tribes of heathen have been moved 
and subdued by it, even when years of preaching had 
apparently failed. And often has a corrupt Church 
owed its toleration and continuance to the profound 
respect which the world felt for the character of a few 
of its members. But in all these instances, be it re¬ 
marked, the character which has exercised the greatest 
influence is that which approached nearest to a union 
of integrity and disinterestedness—in other words, a 
character formed of holy benevolence. Now what is 
this but the identical character which the Gospel con¬ 
centrates all its power to produce ? What was the 
character of Paul but this ; and wdiat could wealth, rank, 
the world, have added to his influence for good ? His 
disinterested, self-denying devotedness to the service of 
Christ, armed him with a power which will continue 
to be felt to the end of time, and which will probably 
be felt incomparably more then than now. But if the 
character of a single Christian can exercise such a 
sway, what would be the influence of a society of such 
men ? Not living to themselves; not meeting for pur¬ 
poses of gain, but freely sacrificing it all; not prosecut¬ 
ing the Christian cause slowly and timidly, but from 
enlightened conviction, precipitating themselves into it; 
abandoning themselves to it; showing themselves ready 
to sacrifice life for it! And if the influence of a single 
society of such men would be great, who can calculate 
the results which would ensue, were such the character 
of the entire Church ? Were all the influences of which 
we spoke in the opening chapter—the influences arising 


460 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


from knowledge, speech, relationships, property, com¬ 
passion, self-denial, perseverance, union, prayer—were 
all these developed in the Church to their utmost, and 
placed under holy principle, so as to become the sacred 
influence of Christian character, what a halo of glory 
would be shed over the whole of its earthly course ! 
Were our conscientiousness in the service of Christ, 
such, that we welcomed every duty however trying ; 
and such our courage in his cause, that we shrank from 
no danger; and such our sympathy with the (travail of 
his soul, that our toils and travail for the same object 
knew no limits—what a kind of emblazonment would 
be thrown over the very name of Christianity ! If we 
had simply acquired the character of not living to our¬ 
selves ; of sincerely commiserating the miseries of the 
world, and of practically devoting ourselves to their 
removal—how impossible it would be to pronounce that 
name , without calling up in the heart feelings of 
homage and love ! The character of the Church would 
give it the mastery of the world, and invest it with 
glory in the eyes of God; u and upon all the glory 
there should be a defence.” 

Now what was the character of Christ but this ? 
And what is our character to be but a copy of his ? 
As his representatives, Christianity is to possess us, to 
live over again the life of Christ in us—speaking through 
us, breathing in us, acting by us. And it is this 
identity of character with the character of Christ which 
is to invest our every movement with so much influence. 
It is not to arise, as we have intimated already, from 
the increase of property and resources which such a self- 
denying character would necessarily place at our dis¬ 
posal—though that is to be taken into the account— 
but from its placing our character in harmony with 
perfection. The influence of Christ himself arises from 
his having placed himself, in an infinitely higher sense, 
indeed, in perfect harmony with the will and character 
of the Father. Sin had introduced apparent disorder 
into the Divine government, arraying law against law, 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


461 


and justice against mercy. Every principle of that 
government—every law in the universe—was calling, 
crying, for vindication in the punishment of man ; while 
love in apparent opposition to them all, was calling for 
his deliverance. Christ met them all with the Cross; 
appeased them all, harmonized them all, and set them 
all again at liberty. His Cross owes its influence en¬ 
tirely to the fact that he thus placed it, as the means 
of atonement, in harmony with all the great laws of the 
Divine government. By abandoning himself entirely 
to these, he moved the universe. Ail moving powers, 
all spiritual influences, the Holy Spirit himself, has 
thus become his. 

And as he acquired his infinite influence in the media¬ 
torial government by placing himself, as the great sacri¬ 
fice for sin, entirely at the Divine disposal, and by iden¬ 
tifying himself with the cause of holiness and mercy, the 
subordinate influence of our character is to arise entirely 
from our identity with his. By moving only in a line 
with him, taking law from no lips but his, copying no 
example but his life, and living iostrumentally for no 
end but that for w’hich he efficaciously died, our charac¬ 
ter would be in effect the prolongation of his own, and 
our influence his influence. The world could not doubt 
our identity with Christ; for they could not hear us 
speak, in our Christian capacity, but they would hear 
the compassionate voice of Christ; nor could they look 
on our conduct without being reminded of his example. 
They could not doubt of the power of Christian principle ; 
for they would see that it secured the self-denying energy 
of the whole man, the whole Church. They could not 
question the distinctiveness of the Christian character; 
they would feel that the world had nothing like it; that the 
entire Church was an organization as distinct from every 
other society as if it had come down direct from heaven ; 
and yet that it stood apart from the world and above it, 
only that it might draw them more effectually to Christ. 
They could not doubt our belief of their danger, or the 
depth of our concern for their deliverance, for they would 


462 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


see it in the unremitting earnestness of our efforts to save 
them. Nor could they doubt any longer the power of 
the Gospel to transform the world; for every day would 
bring them the report of fresh accessions made to the 
kingdom of Christ. Only let the Church be itself; only 
let it become the devoted agency which it was meant to 
be ; and the world should soon be given into its hands. 
Who could see it move in its Missionary path without 
being ready to precede it as its eager herald, shouting, 
u Prepare ye the way of the Lord ?” for Christ himself 
would be with it. Who could look down on the idola¬ 
trous regions which lay in its route without summoning 
them to surrender in the name of the Lord, and feel¬ 
ing the certainty of their speedy subjection to Christ ? 
Who could look into the roll of prophecy without the 
full conviction that all those predictions which paint 
the universality and glory of Messiah’s reign had 
reached the eve of their fulfilment ? The honour and 
triumph of the Gospel would be completed. 

XIII. Our regard for the glory of God requires this 
consecration. This motive alone should be sufficient to 
engage the entire Church in one unsparing effort for the 
world’s conversion. Darkness still covers the earth. 
Satan is still the god of this world. Idolatry continues to 
defy the heavens. Alas ! what a debased and maddened 
world turns round to the eye of God. What shouts of 
hostility arise from it! What spectacles of shame, 
what enormities of guilt, are exhibited upon it! Now 
can we remember whose character it is which is most 
insulted by this fearful state of things, and whose in¬ 
terest it is which is most wronged, without feeling 
“grieved at heart?” Can we imagine him “looking 
down from heaven,” as of old, “upon the children of 
men, to see if there are any that understand and seek 
after him,” and then picture to our minds the scenes 
which present themselves to his holy eye—the poly¬ 
theism and practical atheism, the sottish ignorance, the 
horrid rites and ceremonies, the depraved passions, un- 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


463 


natural cruelties, and revolting immoralities—without 
feeling a holy zeal for God kindling within us ? Can we 
imagine him listening to the sounds at this moment 
ascending from the vast regions of Asia, and think of 
“the lords many and gods many” whose names he 
hears invoked, while his own is comparatively unpro¬ 
nounced, without feeling even an anguish of concern 
for the vindication of his righteous claims ? Can we 
remember that the Being who is thus robbed of the 
homage of his creatures is “God over all blessed for 
ever ?” and that the being who appropriates that homage 
is the enemy of God, and the destroyer of souls, without 
feeling “very jealous for the Lord God of Israel ?” Or 
can we remember, that while much of the great array of 
evil of which this world is the scene, is maintained in 
open defiance of his reign, as if he were the Tyrant in¬ 
stead of the God of the universe, many of the prevailing 
atrocities are perpetrated in his name, and as acceptable 
homage to his throne, as if he were the great Patron of 
iniquity—can we think of this without lifting up our eyes 
to heaven, as Jesus did, and exclaiming, “ O righteous 
Father, the world hath not known thee !” 

But might they not have known him ? And, if so, 
must not the guilt of their ignorance at present, rest on 
those who might have made him known ? And can we 
remember what it is that we have to make known con¬ 
cerning him, without feeling that every moment during 
which we continue to withhold the Gospel from the 
nations we are virtually withholding from God his highest 
glory ; that we are concealing from them a scheme of 
mercy from which he is expecting to derive his richest 
revenue of praise for ever ? The knowledge of the arts, 
the discoveries of science, the treasures of philosophy— 
all these might be kept from them with comparative im¬ 
punity; but that we should keep back from them, age 
after age, knowledge so important that prophets have 
been sent to impart it, angels have been the bearers 
of it, the Spirit himself has uttered it, till, in these last 
days God has actually spoken to us by his Son ; know- 


464 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


ledge which so deeply concerns his own character, that 
it cannot be withheld without the most fatal results, 
nor imparted without reflecting on his name eternal 
glory,—this should surely cover us with shame as it does 
with guilt. What, if no news had come from heaven 
since the voice of inspiration died for a time on the lips 
of Malachi; what, if no voice had ever cried in the 
wilderness, u Prepare ye the way of the Lord ;” and no 
intimation been afforded that “God is love”—what at 
this moment would have been the state of the world but 
that of universal gloom and desolation ? its only light 
streaming from the fires of demon worship, its only 
sounds yells of defiance against Heaven ? Yet, such, in 
effect, is the lamentable condition in which we are 
voluntarily allowing large portions of the earth to lie. 
As if God had never spoken to us, we have never spoken 
to them. As if he were the cruel Moloch they suppose 
him to be, we have never told them the glorious fact that 
He is love—that he hath u so loved the world as to give 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life. ” As if he 
were quite as much in love with obscenity, revenge, and 
blood as they choose to believe him, we have not chosen 
to warn them to the contrary. As if he had taken no 
steps whatever to correct the fatal error, had evinced no 
concern at the stain which thus blots out his glory— 
though in every age and through every moment of the 
time that he has been suffering the foul and enormous 
wrong, he has been reminding us that be is filled with 
jealousy for his name’s sake, and urging us to preach 
the Gospel to every creature as the only way of putting 
an end to the great lie which is every where told and 
believed against him, we have taken no steps to vindi¬ 
cate his blessed name. And the consequence is, that the 
glory of the incorruptible God is still represented by the 
most degraded and loathsome forms, and u the truth of 
God is changed into a lie.” And yet we profess to feel 
for the dishonour put on him ! Where, considering our 
means—where is our consistency ? 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


465 


But grievous as this dishonour is when considered 
simply by itself, there is a consideration which, in the 
eye of God, aggravates it without measure—the fact that 
it should be inflicted on him at the expense of his only 
begotten and well beloved Son. To have kept back the 
disclosures concerning himself made by his mere human 
messengers, would have been highly dishonouring to 
God; but that we should keep back from the dark 
world, not only his glory, but the very “ Brightness of 
his glorythat we should conceal from a world filled 
with the most revolting and hideous images of Deity, 
“the Express Image of his person”—this is to put a 
slight on the character and work of Christ, which he 
cannot away with; that we should have seen the 
Cross of Christ, and should yet have allowed the 
world to go on offering its human and other sacri¬ 
fices, as if he had not “died once for all;” that 
we should have held his Gospel in our hands, and 
yet have allowed a thousand impostors and demons to 
publish their Shastres and Korans instead; that we 
should “ know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 
grace so amazing that it is ever receiving ineffable 
expressions of the Father’s complacency, and filling all 
heaven with praise, and yet that we should account it 
hardly worth reporting—this is to “wound the Father 
through the Son;” and that we should act thus, know¬ 
ing as we do how the heart of God is set on the glory 
of Christ, the height to which he has exalted him, 
and the promises of universal dominion and homage 
he has made to him—this is not merely to dishonour 
Infinite Majesty, but, what is incomparably worse, 
to inflict a wound on the very heart of Infinite Love. 

Or can we, finally, remember what is to be the end of 
the whole mediatorial economy—that it is to redound 
“to the praise of the glory of his grace”—without feel¬ 
ing that to do any thing less than the utmost in our 
power to hasten the great consummation, is to publish 
our guilty indifference concerning it ? It is impossible 
even now for the true Christian to hear of a single rebel 


466 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


submitting to God, and being brought back into harmony 
with the holy universe without rejoicing in the honour 
which it brings to God. The very angels rejoice on 
account of it in the presence of God. They see so 
many laws harmonized by it, so many claims satisfied, 
so much glory reflected on every attribute of the 
Triune God, that they rehearse for the last great 
chorus of the universe. But if the recovery to God of 
a single sinner redounds so greatly to his praise, what 
will be the glory accruing to him from a recovered 
world ? In some respects he will be honoured more by 
the obedience of earth, than by the homage of heaven. 
There, his glory has never been obscured ; here it has 
suffered a long and dreadful eclipse ; when, therefore, it 
shall again irradiate the world, well may the unfallen 
before the throne exclaim, “ Holy, holy, holy is the 
Lord God of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory !” 
When in defiance of the machinations of the prince of 
darkness, and the mighty depravity of man, the empire 
of grace shall be every where triumphant, what honours 
will be recovered to the blessed God of which he has 
long been defrauded ! When all things shall be sacred 
to his name, and all hearts reflecting his image, what 
expressions of his purity and love will be poured over 
the earth as the waters cover the sea ! How will the 
mountains echo it to the valleys, and the valleys roll it 
back again to the mountains, that even here at length 
u the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth How will one 
continent proclaim it to another, and the ocean waft it 
to the main, that “ the kingdoms of this world have be¬ 
come the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ!” And 
when it shall be distinctly seen that from first to last 
the recovery of the world was entirely owing, through 
every stage and every step, to his boundless grace, what 
ascriptions of honour will the assembled and admiring 
universe pour forth, like the sound of many waters, to 
God and to the Lamb ! 

Now is it possible for us to know that for that 
glory he is waiting; that his Church is constituted 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


467 


expressly to promote it; and that he is looking to 
every member of that Church to hasten its arrival, 
without feeling ourselves called on individually to put 
forth all our energies for its speedy consummation ? 
Can any object in the universe be so momentous as the 
vindication of the Divine character, and the completion 
of the Divine glory ? All other interests compared 
with it, are lighter than nothing and vanity. Compared 
with this, nothing is sacred, great, or precious. At 
the least signal, all heaven would rush together for its 
vindication; every holy intelligence become a champion 
in its behalf. And is it possible, that though the vin¬ 
dication of his glory has in an important sense been 
given into our charge—and though all the world is 
denying his existence, aspersing his name, or usurping 
his rights, yet on turning his eyes from that great 
spectacle of blasphemy, to see what his Church is doing 
for its abatement, he should find us conniving at it, 
and, by our conduct, confirming it ? Is it possible 
that the least stain cast upon our own name, should 
arm our every power for its vindication, while the sight 
of hundreds of millions trampling his honour in the 
dust, and labouring in mad enmity to extinguish the 
last ray of his glory, should yet leave us calmly to give 
nearly all our time and attention to u what we shall 
eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall 
be clothed ! ” u Father, forgive us, we know not what 
we do.” 

But not long can this state of things continue. The 
great cause of the Divine glory has come on in the 
heathen world. Ages have elapsed since the Christian 
Church was commissioned to plead that cause in all the 
earth. Still, however, the momentous controversy re¬ 
mains undecided. But God is giving indubitable signs 
that he will now bring it to an issue. Every minor 
interest must stand by. The theatre of the world is 
clearing for the decision. The Church is imperatively 
summoned to appear and give witness for God. To us 
he is saying, as he did to the members of his ancient 


468 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


Church, “ Ye are my witnesses, that I, even I, am God, 
and besides me there is no Saviour.” Christians, the 
world is waiting to receive your evidence. u By the 
mercies of God,” will you not go and testify in his 
behalf? Satan is witnessing against him; and millions 
are crediting the revolting testimony; will you not 
hasten or send to testify for him ? Atheism and 
Budhism are denying his existence ; and China, one 
third of the human race, believe it; will you not go 
and proclaim, “ This is the true God, and eternal life ?” 
His ancient people are scattered over all the earth, each 
of them still with a veil over his heart, and stained with 
the blood of the Just One; will you not beseech them 
to “ look upon him whom they have pierced,” and urge 
on them his claims as their own Messiah ? Popery 
is concealing, imprisoning, destroying his word as a 
dangerous book, and embracing an image, or an amulet 
instead ; will you not enable and urge its votaries to 
“ search the Scriptures,” to consult them as the “ oracles 
of God ?” Mahometanism is denying the Divinity of 
his Son, and honouring an impostor in his stead ; will 
you not attest that there is none other name under 
heaven given among men, whereby we can be saved, 
but the name of his Son our Saviour ? Hindooism is 
affirming that his name is Kalee, and that he has given 
one half of the human race to be slaughtered for his 
honour; that it is Juggernaut, and that his worshippers 
must be covered with the scars of self-torture, and his 
chariot grind its way through a path strewn with their 
prostrate bodies; will you not arouse, will you not 
impel others to join you, and will you not speed to tell 
them all that u God is love?” universal and infinite 
love ? Shall his cause have only a few friends to 
espouse it ? Shall “the Church of God which he hath 
purchased with his own blood,” find few tongues to 
proclaim that that “blood cleanseth from all sin?” 

Followers of God, his cause, your cause, the cause of 
a deluded and dying world, is before you. In every 
part of the world, he has obtained for you a hearing, and 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


469 


is awaiting your arrival. At this moment he is saying to 
his Church, to every individual member—to the Chris¬ 
tian reader of this book—and saying it, not for the 
third, but the thousandth time, “Lovest thou me ?” 
then, by the tender and melting considerations which 
led you at first to surrender yourself to my claims; by 
the weight of all the obligations under which my grace 
has laid you; if there be any thing in my gift of 
Christ to excite your love, any thing in his blood to 
benefit the world, any thing in my glory to engage your 
concern, awake to your high prerogative and office, call 
down the aid of the Holy Spirit, and let every creature 
hear you u testify, that the Father sent the Son to be 
the Saviour of the world.” Soon should “ my name 
be great among the heathen; and in every place, in¬ 
cense and a pure offering would be offered on my altar.” 
No longer should my character be defamed, my govern¬ 
ment impugned, my designs impeached and opposed, 
nor my honours usurped ; but every where would my 
claims be brought forward to the public view, and every 
where should I be acknowledged as u God over all, 
blessed for ever.” The earth should be “ filled with 
my glory, and all flesh see it together.” 

XIV. Then such a consummation of the Divine glory 
would be equally the completion of human happiness. In¬ 
deed what but this constitutes the happiness of heaven ? 
Conceive of the will of God “done on earth as it is in 
heaven,” and you conceive of “the days of heaven upon 
earth.” The last idol would have been cast away; 
and the last rod of the last oppressor broken. Every 
government would but execute the law of God, and 
every subject would but obey the Gospel. The activities 
of mind, the discoveries of enterprise, the accumula¬ 
tions of wealth, the changes of empire, the revolu¬ 
tions of time—all would be seen laid at his feet, and 
falling into his plan. Every habitation would be a 
house of God; every occupation a holy exercise ; every 
day a return of the sabbath; for whatever was done, 

40 


470 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


a would be done to the glory of God.” Like what a 
sea of glass would the universal mind of man become; 
every where pure and unruffled, and reflecting only the 
colours of the rainbow round about the throne ! What 
a world ! when, compared with its all-pervading peace, 
and loveliness, and light, cc the former heavens and the for¬ 
mer earth shall not be remembered nor come into mind.” 

And is there ground to conclude that this sublime 
result shall be realized ? u The mouth of the Lord 
hath spoken it.” u I have sworn by myself, the word 
hath gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall 
not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and 
every tongue shall swear.” At what precise period, or 
to what exact point of perfection the result may be 
realized, we cannot say, and are not anxious to know. 
Sufficient is it for us to know that the time shall come 
when the world shall be seen prostrate before God in 
worship. And then will it be clearly perceived, that 
this has been brought to pass as the result of all that 
God has planned, and Christ has suffered, and the 
Spirit has effected. The very mention of his name 
then, will be sufficient to bring the world into a posture 
of adoration. They will come before him hungry for 
his blessing, languishing for his Spirit, coveting, craving 
the gifts of his grace. u O Thou that hearest prayer, 
to thee shall all flesh come !” They shall not be satis¬ 
fied to enjoy thee alone ; they shall go out, and with a 
friendly violence compel others to come in, and share 
thy favours with them. “ It shall come to pass, that 
there shall come people and the inhabitants of many 
cities ; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to 
another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the 
Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts ; I will go also. 
Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek 
the Lord, and to pray before the Lord.” Churches 
shall come to adore him, cities to consult him, nations 
to surrender to him, all the kindreds of the earth to 
fall down before him. They shall not be content to 
praise him alone; they shall feel as if they wanted 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


471 


help—the help of the world—to raise a song adequate 
to his praise, and a prayer equal to the ardour of their 
desires. u And it shall come to pass that from one new 
moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall 
all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” 

Then man will have found his only proper place ; 
will have returned to the only spot in the universe 
which becomes him—at the feet of God. And, having 
found his proper place, his ultimate end, there will he 
rest; going out of himself, and losing himself in God. 
Then God will have recovered his proper glory ; every 
idol will be abolished, every rival power cast out, the 
eyes of all will wait upon him, all flesh will be seen 
staying themselves upon him; he will be seen by 
the universe as the centre of a lapsing creation— 
the support and stay of a sinking world. Then the 
design of the whole Gospel constitution will be com¬ 
pleted— u that no flesh should glory in his presence;” 
every thing will have redounded to the glory of his 
grace. And when all flesh shall thus be seen in effect, 
prostrate before God in prayer; what will it be, but a 
prelude to the worship of heaven ? What will remain 
but that the whole should be transferred to the em¬ 
ployment of praise above! Infinite love, ascending 
the throne, and putting on the crown, shall sit down 
and enjoy an eternal sabbath of love! While the 
myriads of the redeemed and glorified, casting their 
crowns before him, shall ascribe their happiness to him, 
and the jubilee of eternity shall begin. 

And is such to be the end of the Missionary enter¬ 
prise ? And is this the object at which it calls us to 
aim ? Christian, where else are interests like these at 
stake ? Where else, amidst all the enterprises of time, 
does so wide a field stretch before the view, or such 
momentous consequences await the result ? To over¬ 
rate such an object is impossible; to stand aloof from 
it, or even to regard it coldly, is enormous guilt. What, 
then, is the amount of practical interest which you are 
taking in it ? Ask yourself—is it at all commensurate 
with its mighty claims ? 


472 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


The policy of statesmen, and the projects of national 
ambition, may lay wide their schemes over other realms, 
and subordinate passing events, and entail the fulfilment 
of their designs on their successors to a distant pos¬ 
terity ; but here is a scheme so vast in its sweep, as to 
subordinate all other plans to its design ; so varied in 
its workings, as to demand the strenuous activity of 
every agent in the universe ; and yet so self-sufficient, 
as absolutely to stand in need of none. Need you be 
reminded that in the arrangements of that plan a post 
of activity is assigned to you : and that in that post, 
the whole of your sanctified influence is laid under 
tribute through every moment of life ? Great, indeed, 
is your guilt if you are acting on any independent 
plans of your own ; if you are planning for any thing 
but how best you may blend with its working, and aid 
in its accomplishment. 

A mere worldly philanthropy may boast of its gene¬ 
rous doings, and point to its schools, and hospitals, and 
humanizing institutions—though even these were ori¬ 
ginated indirectly by the influence of Christianity ; but 
here is a cause which, having done all this, would yet 
hardly count its work begun; which scatters these minor 
blessings as it advances to accomplish a good infinitely 
greater ; which can point to ignorance sitting at the 
feet of Christ, hordes of the wilderness converted into 
Christian Churches ; the worshippers of demons made 
kings and priests unto God, and actually mingling in 
the adorations of the temple above. But how much of 
all this, and what particular part of it, were you the 
means of originating or effecting ? And what are you 
now doing to augment these happy results ? What 
source of tears are you now labouring to dry up ? What 
particular form of evil is now engaging your attention 
and filling you with concern ? What object engaging 
your special and earnest supplication ? 

Science may talk of the future, may promise 
largely, and be sanguine of its useful results; but here 
is a cause which makes all the wants and woes of the 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


473 


world its own, and will never count its work conplete 
till they have all been removed and forgotten. On this 
cause, all the treasures of the universe have been 
lavished, all creation is groaing and travailing in pain 
together for want of it, and all the voices of heaven and 
earth are urging you to take part in it. What are you 
doing for its promotion ? Is the utmost extent of your 
instrumentality in its behalf, a small donation in money, 
and occasionally a languid prayer ? 

History may record her eventful eras, when all the 
powers of earth were drawn up in hostile array, and all 
its interests suspended on a single conflict. Such may be 
regarded to have been the case when the great question 
was to be decided by a single blow between Greece and 
Persia, whether freedom or slavery should be the future 
inheritance of mankind; when the victory of Constan¬ 
tine determined whether Paganism or Christianity should 
hold the throne of the Roman empire; when, on the 
plain of Tours, it was decided whether the Crescent should 
prevail over the Cross in the west as it had in the east— 
whether Imposture should drive the Truth from the 
earth; and when, on the event of the Armada, it was 
to be decided whether Popery or Protestantism should 
prevail, whether the earth should belong to Christ or to 
Antichrist. But, here, all that is left of these ancient 
elements of conflict is marshalled anew; every thing 
depraved and malignant is here found in conflict with 
every thing benevolent and holy, and the issue is to in¬ 
volve the final destiny of immortal myriads. Are you 
conscious of having caught the spirit of the contest ? 
of feeling how much may depend, under God, on your 
single arm ? and are you, accordingly, to be found at 
your post, and acquitting yourself as a good soldier of 
Jesus Christ ? 

Eventful times and great enterprises may have pro¬ 
duced extraordinary men ; men whose memory biography 
may have embalmed ; whose honours, heraldry may have 
emblazoned ; whose likeness, art and genius may have 
taxed their powers to multiply; whose fame is accounted 


474 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION 


so precious, that nations may have charged themselves 
with the office of guarding it; and the youth of each 
succeeding generation may be taken to their tomb as to 
a shrine, and be taught to regard them as filling the 
place of a glorious ancestry, urging them by their ex¬ 
ample to an emulation of their noble deeds. But here 
is a cause which has ever been producing men “ of whom 
the world was not worthy:” men “whose names are in 
the book of life;” men “whose praise is in all the 
churches,” kindling holy enthusiasm, and who by their 
influence are reproducing themselves in the useful lives 
of others; men who “though dead are yet speaking,” 
speaking together, and saying, “Be ye followers of us, 
as we followed Christ.” Are you heeding the exhorta¬ 
tion ? might it be fairly inferred from any thing visible 
in your conduct that you are living for the great object 
for which many of them cheerfully died ? that you sym¬ 
pathize with them in the intensity of their concern 
for the salvation of the world ? Philosophy may boast 
of her martyrs, and tell her disciples what severity of 
discipline, and what untiring patience and perseverance 
the prosecution of her claims and projects require ; but 
here is an object which demanded the actual sacrifice 
of the Son of God; and which is ever demanding the 
unrelaxing and unqualified devotedness of all his fol¬ 
lowers in all succeeding times. What sacrifices are you 
making in its behalf? and in what do those sacrifices 
consist ? Here is an object which brings you into con¬ 
tact with more than prophets and apostles, and which 
requires you to imitate a higher example than that even 
of confessors and martyrs. By summoning you “ to the 
help of the Lord,” it calls you to act at his side, places you 
under the notice of his eye, and requires you to “ follow 
his steps.” Have you ever been seized with the hal¬ 
lowed ambition of copying his example ? Are you as¬ 
piring to win from his lips the “Well done, good and 
faithful servant,” which awaits each of his devoted fol¬ 
lowers, on their arrival in his presence above ? 

Others may boast of comprehensive designs, and talk 


TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 


475 


of final causes ; but here is the Final cause itself—an 
end so great, that all other ends stand to it only in the 
relation of means—so lofty, that there is nothing higher 
—so glorious, that every thing in the universe is hon¬ 
oured by serving it. The one point, the sole end, to 
which every thing in the government of God is tending 
is, “ to the praise of the glory of his graceand to 
this point it is tending with the directness and force 
of a universal law. Every mite given, every Bible dis¬ 
tributed, every Missionary sent forth, every Church 
planted, falls in with that stream of events, and forms a 
part of that vast combination of means, by which God is 
reducing and restoring all things unto himself. Even 
now, the agencies of Providence are urged into unusual 
activity—all things are rushing to that final issue. 
Belay to join in the march of mercy; and you will lose 
opportunities of honouring God, and of serving your 
race, such as never occurred to the Church before, and 
can never be enjoyed by you again. Be indolent, 
covetous, self-indulgent now; and the very stones will 
cry out. Continue to live for yourself; and the uni¬ 
verse will upbraid you—the perishing will point at and 
reproach you as accessary to their destruction—the 
Judge himself will say, U I never knew you.” On the 
contrary, be faithful now, and the very trees of the field 
will clap their hands : live unto the Lord ; and all things 
shall live for you, and be ready to serve you in his 
cause; be entirely devoted to his claims, and others 
shall be moved by your example, and the world blessed 
by your influence, and Christ himself shall rejoice over 
you. Less than entire consecration has been tried for 
ages; and the fatal result is to be seen in the thousands 
perpetually passing—passing at this moment—to the 
bar of God from regions where the sound of salvation 
has never been heard. If you sympathize with Christ, 
then, in the travail of his soul, you will from this time 
see what entire devotedness can do for their recovery. 
Moved by his example, you will look through your 
tears on a world perishing in its guilt; and you will 


476 


MOTIVES TO ENTIRE CONSECRATION, ETC. 


feel that you are never imitating him so much as by 
self-denying, painstaking endeavours for its salvation. 
Subdued by the tenderness of his claims, you will 
freely acknowledge that you are not your own ; that the 
same reasons which bind you to do any thing for Christ, 
bind you to do every thing in your power, and to do 
it in the best possible manner ; that you are bought 
with a price which might well purchase the entire 
dedication of a whole universe of intelligent beings to 
all eternity. Affected and engrossed by the magnitude 
of his cause—the cause of the world’s recovery—you 
will feel that to throw less than all your energies into 
its promotion is an insult to all the momentous interests 
which it involves. Not only therefore will you task 
your own powers in its behalf—you will task them 
partly in an earnest endeavour to move heaven and 
earth to join you. In a word, constrained by his 
love you will “thus judge ”—and never can you be said 
to be moved by his love except as you are thus judging, 
and laboriously acting on the judgment—“that if one 
died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for 
all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto 
themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose 
again.” Hasten, then, into his presence, fall dow T n at 
his feet, and surrender yourself, and every thing you 
have, to his service. He will graciously accept the 
dedication ; and ten thousand ages hence you will be 
still praising him that you did so ; and an unknown 
number will join in blessing him on your account. 




INDEX. 


A. 


Abraham, holy agency of .... .... 

• • • a 

• • • • 

PAGE. 

.... 85 

Activity, a means of usefulness .... 

a a a a 

• • • • 

a a a a 

79 

Christian, final success of .... 

a a a a 

• • • • 

319, 

442 

Agency, Christian, divine origin of .... 

• • a • 

• • • • 

a a a a 

93 

true character of .... 

• » • • 

• • a a 

a a a a 

37 

America, Aborigines of .... .... 

» • « « 

a a a a 

a a a a 

301 

American Baptist Board of Missions, origin of 

• • • i 

• » • » 

a a a a 

187 

Board of Foreign Missions, origin of 

• • • • 

• • • a 

a a a a 

187 

Angels, agency of . .... 

a a • a 

• • a • 

a a a a 

163 

holy activity of .... .... 

• • • a 

a a a a 

a a a a 

118 

interest of, in Christ’s mediation 

• • • • 

.... 

a a a a 

115 

sympathy of, in man’s salvation 

a a • • 

.... 

a a a a 

116 

Antioch, conduct of church at .... 

• • • • 

a • ■ • 

a a a a 

107 

Apostles, conduct of, in the diffusion of the Gospel 

a a a a 

a a a a 

104 

manner in which they understood prophecy 

a a a a 

a a a a 

157 

qualified and authorized to diffuse the Gospel 

a a a a 

a a a a 

97 

tfctVGls of* •••• • • • • •••• 

• • • • 

a a a . 

a a a a 

103 

Apostolic epistles, illustrative of the spirit of Missions 

a a a a 

a a a a 

111 

Arts, the, promoted by Missionary efforts 

• • • • 

a a a a 

a a a a 

199 

Asiatic churches, injunctions to .... 

• • • • 

a a a a 

a a a a 

177 

Association, principle of moral .... 

• • • • 

a a a a 

a a a a 

51 


B. 




Baptist Missionary Society, origin of .... 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 185 

Basle, Missionary seminary at .... 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 186 

Biography, right influence of, on Christians 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 473 

Boyle, Hon. R., Christian zeal of .... 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 183 

Britain, extensive influence of .... 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 293 

political state of .... .... 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 435 

temporal benefits of, from the Gospel 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 196 

British churches, influence of Missions on 

a a a a 

a a a a 

.... 238 

Britons abroad, influence of Missions on 

41 

a a a a 

a a a • 

.... 260 


/ 









478 


INDEX. 


c. 


Central Africa, present state of .... .... 

Character, Christian, elevated by Missions .... 

weight of .... .... 

China, present state of .... .... .... 

Christ, anticipation of his glory .... 

character of .... .... .... . 

devotedness of, to his engagements .... 

influence of his advent on man .... .... 

intercessory prayer of .... .... 

irresistible claims of, on the devotedness of his people 
jealousy of, in addressing his church .... 
kingdom of, gradually setup .... .... 

mediatorial right of .... .... .... 

pity of, for the lost world .... .... 

promise of his presence .... .... 

satisfaction of, in his conquest of the world 
Christian, closeness of his identity with Christ .... 

fitness of, for usefulness .... .... 

motives to lead him t@ activity .... 

object of Christ in redeeming .... 

prayer of, for the world .... .... 

Christians, expectations of Christ from .... .... 

past conduct of, to be retrieved .... 

present responsibility of .... .... 

their means of usefulness .... .... 

union of, for the diffusion of the Gospel 
Christendom, the divisions of .... .... 

Christianity, influence of, on individual man .... 

means of its early extension .... 

temporal benefits afforded by .... 

tendency of, to form society .... 

Christian influence, prominence of, in the New Testament . 
instrumentality, theory of .... .... 

labor, impossibility of its being lost _ 

Church Missionary Society, origin of .... .... 

the completion of its triumphs .... .... 

decline of its devotedness and prosperity 
Divine displeasure with the supineness of 
duty of individual members of .... 

increase of its influence .... .... 

influence of unity in .... .... 

Missionary constitution of .... .... 

present transition state of .... .... 

prosperity of, arising from activity .... 
separation of, from the world .... 

usefulness of .... .... .... 

views of, enlarged by missions _ 


• • • • 

PAGE. 

300 

• • • • 

243 

• • • • 

458 

0 0 0 • 

298 

t • • * 

53 

• • • • 

460 

89, 125 

• • • • 

47 

• • • • 

160 

• • • • 

126 

• • • • 

173 

• • • • 

161 

• • • • 

445 

• • • • 

160 

• • • • 

162 

• • • • 

168 

• • j» • 

97 

• • • • 

63 

• * • • 

168 

• • • • 

452 

• • • • 

97 

• • • • 

91 

• • • • 

426 

• • • • 

131 

• • • • 

68 

• • • • 

99 

• • • • 

301 

• • • • 

56 

• • • • 

182 

• • • • 

193 

• • • • 

64 

• • • • 

95 

» • « * 

55 

• • • • 

442 


185 


456 

0000 

176 

• • • • 

467 

• • • • 

468 

• • • • 

122 

• • • • 

63 

• • • • 

378 

• • • • 

439 

• • • • 

175 

• • • • 

65 

• • • • 

65 

• 000 

242 



INDEX. 


479 


Churches, the reformed .... .... .... 

Civilization, how produced by Christianity .... 

Clean water, how sprinkled on the Church .... 

Colonization, peculiar to Christianity .... .... 

Coming of Christ, scriptural import of the phrase .... 
Commerce, how promoted by Missions, .... 

Compassion, a mean of usefulness .... .... 

Consecration, Christian, importance of .... .... 

required by Jehovah .... 

Consistency, Christian, influence cf .... .... 

Conversion, triumphs of .... .... .... 

Covenant, new, character of .... .... .... 

Creation, anticipat ion of the deliverance of .... 

Cross of Christ, influence of .... •••• .... 




PAGE. 

.... 303 

.... 199 

.... 155 

.... 290 

.... 13S 

.... 234 

.... 79 

372, 415 
.... 462 

.... 457 

.... 223 

.... 153 

.... 53 

53, 162 


D. 


David, tabernacle of, its reference to the Church .... 
Dependence and influence, universal law of .... 
Devotedness, Christian, examples of .... .... 

importance of .... .... 

Disunion among Christians, evils of .... .... 

Dry bones, valley of j .... .... .... 


.... 153 
37 

.... 437 
.... 431 
.... 368 
.... 152 


E. 


Edinburgh Missionary Society, origin of 
Education, promoted by Missions .... 
Emulation, Christian, promoted by Missions 
Era, present, the commencement of a new 
European character, raised by Missions 
Evil, moral, influence of introduction of 


• • • • 



1S5 

220 

240 

441 

232 

43 


F. 


France, naturalism of .... .... .... .... .... 302 

French Protestant Missionary Society, origin of .... .... .... 187 

Future, disclosures of the, made to the Church .... .... .... 120 


G. 


General Baptist Missionary Society, origin of .... .... .... 187 

Gentiles, why first preached to, by the Apostles .... .... .... 158 

German Missionary Society, origin of .... .... - - 1S6 






480 


INDEX. 


Germany, rationalism of .... .... 

• • • • 



PAGE. 

302 

Glasgow Missionary Society, origin of .... 

• • • < 



186 

God, character of, pledged for the success of the Gospel 



140 

eminently glorified by Missions .... 

• • • • 



261 

promises of, as to the success of his word 

• • • • 



140 

Gospel, adaptation of, to the mind .... 

• • • • 



56 

influence of its success .... 

• • • • 



133 

perpetuity of the preaching of .... 

• • • • 



159 

power of, illustrated by Missions 

• • • • 



257 

published by an angel .... 

• • • • 



163 

result of its publication .... 

• • • • 



459 

withholding of, dishonor done to Christ 

• • • • 



465 

Greek Church, present state of .... 

• • • • 



301 

H. 

Happiness, human, completion of .... 

• • • • 



469 

Harvest, influence of Christians on the moral 

• • • * 



98 

of the world, how reaped by Christians 

• • • • 



160 


Heathen, awfully dangerous state of .... .... 

not to be neglected on account of the state of home 
readiness of, to receive the Gospel .... 

Heaven, how fully prepared for the redeemed .... 
the heathen prepared for by Missions .... 

History, encouragement given by, to Christian agency 
eventful eras of .... .... .... 

Holy Spirit, agency of, in the Church .... .... 

given for the diffusion of the Gospel .... 
glory of his dispensation .... .... 

influence of, on man .... .... 

influence of, essential to usefulness .... 
promise of his influence .... .... 

promise of, in connection with injunctions to duty 
work of, to glorify Christ .... .... 

Hope, influence of, on Christian activity .... 

Horsley, bishop, quoted on the rule of prophecy .... 

Humanity promoted by Christian Missions .... 

Humility, Christian, vast importance of .... 


331, 432 
347 
436 
11S 
225 
284 
473 
93 
100 
142 
48 
70 

93 
139 

94 
136 
139 
203 
374 


I. 


Idolatry, abolished by Missions .... .... .... .... 216 

Impending judgments, usefulness of .... .... .... .... 156 

India, early Missions in .... .... .... .... .... 181 

present state of .... .... .... .... 293,313 

Infidelity, lessened by Missions .... .... .... .... 253 






























INDEX. 


481 


PAGE. 


Influence, moral power of .... .... .... ... .... 39 

Christian, constantly accumulating .... .... .... 121 

mighty power of.... .... .... .... 275 

prominence of, in the New Testament .... .... 95 

moral, stimulated by sin .... .... ✓... .... 47 

Instrumentality, Christian, theory of .... .... .... .... 55 

holy, employed by the patriarchs .... .... 85 


J. 


Jehovah, love of, to his Church .... .... 

Jerusalem, conduct of the Church at .... .... 

Jewish economy, adaptation of, to bless the world 

Church, a type of the Christian- .... 

influence of .... .... .... 

separation of, from the world .... 

Jews, awakening among .... .... .... 

conversion of, by the Gospel .... .... 

society for the conversion of, origin of .... 
Johnson, Dr. S., extract from .... .... 

Judgments, great, overruled for the salvation of the world 


89 

107 

87 

88 
122 

87 

303 

151 

186 

121 

148 


K. 


Kingdom, establishment of the holy .... .... 

• • • • 

166 

of Christ, certai n progress of .... 

• • • • 

157 

gradually set up .... .... 

• • • • 

161 

Knowledge, a means of usefulness .... .... 

• • • • 

71 

L. 

Laws, institution of, promoted by ChristianMissions 

• it • • 

.... 203 

Laymen, necessity of the missionary agency of .... 

• • • • 

.... 399 

Liberality, necessity of increased pecuniary ... . 

• • • • 

.... 393 

Literature, promoted by Missions .... «... 

• • • • 

.... 228 

London Missionary Society, origin of .... .... 

• • • • 

185 


M. 


Man, dependence of, on others .... • • • • 

knowledge of, promoted by Missions .... 

Mediation effected by Missionaries .... • • • • 

Millenarianism, opposition of, to Scripture .... 

Millenarians, mistakes of .... •••• 

objections of, to Missions refuted .... 

I , 


38 
232 
206 
133, 145 
135 
357 






















482 


INDEX. 


Millennium, Christian expectation of .... .... 

Ministers, necessity of their increased attention to Missions 
Missionaries, earliest, sent from Britain .... 

Missionary activity, origin and history of .... 

efforts, success proport ioned to .... 

enterprise, summary of .... .... 

temporal benefits of .... 

information, importance of the diffusion of 
Societies, tabular statement of .... 

influence of their origin .... 

spirit, existence of, in the early ages .... 

existence and progress of, in the churche 
Missions, benefits of, beyond calculation .... 

Christian, history of .... - 

Church constituted for .... .... 

conviction of the Church as to its duty towards 
evidence furnished by, of the truth of Christianity 
importance of the due appreciation of .... 
influence of, on the increase of the Romish Churc 
influence of science on .... .... 

motives to engage in .... .... 

necessity of, to precede civilization .... 

not impracticable .... .... 

objections to, answered .... _ 

obligations not lessened by want of funds or union 
peculiar advantages derived from .... 

Protestant, origin of .... .... 

providential facilities for .... .... 

Morality promoted by Christian Missions .... 

Moravian Missions, origin of .... .... 

Mosaic dispensation, agency of .... .... 


PAGE. 


133 

387 

179 

177 


2(16, 315 
190 
192 
381 
189 
186 
179 
305 
213 
175 
321 
257 
255 
376 
177 
312 
421 
335 
332 
327 
353 
273 
179 
310 

202, 216 
184 
86 


N. 


Nations, existence of, preserved by Missions 
Native agency, success of .... .... 

Netherlands Missionary Society, origin of 
New creation, the .... .... 

New England, Christianity planted in 


205 

277 

187 

167 

183 


o. 


Opposition to the Gospel, destruction of 


.... 165 


P. 


Parental influence, corruption of .... .... .... .... 45 

Paul, conduct of, in reference to the Gospel .... _ .... 104 
















INDEX. 


Paul, self-denial of .... .... .... 

Peace, promoted by Missions .... .... 

Persevering activity, a means of usefulness .... 

Philanthropy, worldly, inefficiency of .... .... 

Piety, importance of an increase of .... .... 

Prayer, a means of usefulness .... .... 

increase of, on behalf of Missions .... 

need of a larger increase of .... .... 

spirit of, prompted by Missions .... 

Preaching, importance of, in the conversion of the world 
Property, a means of usefulness .... .... 

consecrated by Christians to Missions .... 
Prophecy, favorable influence of, on Missions .... 

influence of, on the Church .... .... 

wise reserve of .... .... .... 

Providence, dispensations of, favorable to Missions 


483 

PAGE. 

105 

223 

80 

472 

383 

82 

316, c24 
405 
247 
158 
76 
246 
318 
133 
142 
433 


R. 


Redemption, claim of .... .... .... 

harmony of, with the Divine mind .... 
its divine origin .... .... 

Relationship, a means of usefulness .... .... 

Religion, cause of, but one .... .... .... 

Remedy for selfishness, how provided .... .... 

Renovation of the world, an object of ancient expectation 
Responsibility, extent of moral .... .... 

Rhenish Missionary Society, origin of .... 

Roman greatness, its character .... .... 

Romish Church, influence of Missions on the increase of 
present state of .... .... 

Russia, early establishment of Christianity in .... 


449 

50 

49 

73 

241 

49 

159 

43 

187 

121 

178 

301 

181 


S. 


Sabbath, observance of, promoted by Missions 
Satan, conquest of, over man, .... 

subdued by Messiah .... .... 

Schlegel, extract from .... .... 

Science, inefficiency of .... .... 

promoted by Missions .... 

Self-denial, a means of usefulness .... 

Self-examination, importance of .... 

Selfishness, its origin .... - 

remedy for .... .... 

Shipping interest, promoted by Missions 
Slavery, destroyed by Missions .... 


224 

43 
48 
121 
472 
228 

78 

366 

44 
48 

235 
208, 2H 




































484 


INDEX. 


Smith, Dr. J. P., extract from .... .... 

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, origin of 
for Propagating Christian Knowledge, origin of 
for Propagation of the Gospel, origin of .... 
Speech, a means of usefulness .... .... 

Stone, progress of the living .... .... 

Swartz, character of .... .... .... 

Swiss, the, originators of Protestant Missions .... 


PAGE. 

133 

183 

184 
184 
71 

165 

233 

183 


T. 


Tapu, abolished by Missions .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 210 

Temple, erection of the holy .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

165 

the ancient, type of the Christian and the Church 

• • • • 

454 

Truth, evils of partial views of .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 360 

moral influence of .... .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 52 

# 

u. 

Union, a means of usefulness .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 82 

Christian, importance of .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 389 

Christian, promoted by Missions 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 244 

Universe, dependence and influence, the law of 

• • • • 

• • • • 

37 

•) w. 

. • *• i -> « 'j >■ ' M 

Western Africa, Mission of the Friends to 

• • • • 

• • • • 

187 

Wisdom, holy increase of .... .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

384 

Woman, rank of, elevated by Missions 

• • • • 


211 

Work of Christ, relation of, to man .... 

• • • • 


47 

World, entire conquest of .... .... 

• • • • 


475 

effect produced by surveying it 

• • • • 


455 

moral aspect of, favorable to Missions 

• • • • 

• • • • 

295, 323 

moral state of .... .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

462, 466 

pernicious influence of, on man 

• • • • 


.... 59 

political state of, favorable to Missions 

• • • • 


.... 2S8 

present awful state of .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

428, 432 

result of the conversion of .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

.... 465 

Y. 

Young men, appeal to .... .... 

• • • • 

• • • • 

442 


Z. 


Zeal, Christian, necessity for an increase of 


• • • • 


V * • • 


403 














THE 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF MISSIONS; 

A RECORD OF THE 

VOYAGES, TRAVELS, LABORS, AND SUCCESSES 

OF VARIOUS MISSIONARIES WHO HAVE BEEN SENT FORTH BY PROTESTANT SOCIETIES 

TO EVANGELIZE THE HEATHEN. 

Compiled from Authentic Documents. 

FORMING A COMPLETE 

MISSIONARY REPOSITORY. 

ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS MADE 

EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK. 

By Rev. JOHiN O. CHOULES, N. Y., and Rev. THOMAS SMITH, London. 


Stjrtl) 3Et>ftfon, 3Enlaigetr anti Xmprobett, 

IN TWO VOLUMES QUARTO. 


The Publishers would invite the attention o f all interested in the prosperity and 
success of Missions, to this valuable work. The present edition has been improv¬ 
ed and enlarged by a continuation of the work down to the present time. It will 
be seen, by reference to the recommendatory notices annexed, from prominent men 
of the various denominations, that it is free from all sectarian bias, and as such 
is entitled to the confidence of the Christian community. 

The work is printed on fine paper,from handsome stereotype plates,—contains 
1228 pages of printed matter, and thirty-six splendid steel Engravings. In order 
to place it within the reach of every one wishing to possess this valuable repository 
of missionary intelligence, the present proprietors have determined to put it at the 
very low price of seven dollars per copy, —one half the cost of former edi¬ 
tions ;—making it one of the cheapest works published. 


ORIGINAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF THIS WORK. 

The plan and object of “THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF MISSIONS” having 
been submitted to us, we beg leave most cordially to recommend it to the attention 
of the religious public, considering it highly calculated to extend the interest which 
is already felt on behalf of the great missionary enterprise. 


Rev. Rufus Anderson, D.D., $ Sec’s Am. 
Rev. David Greene, ? B. C.E.M. 

Rev. Lucius Bolles, D. D., $ Sec’s Bap. 
Rev. R. E. Fattison, D. D., ( B. F. Miss. 
Rev. P. Van Pelt, Sec. Prot. Epis. M.S. 
Rev. Wilbur Fiske.D.D., Pres WesUniv. 
Rev. F. W ayla.nd,I).I). ,Pres.B?-oionUn. 
Rev. Daniel Sharp, D.D., Boston. 

Rev. B. B. Wisner, D.D., Boston. 

Rev. John Codman,D.D ..DorChester, Ms. 
Rev. Howard Malcom, Boston. 

Rev. William Jenks, D.D. Boston. 
Rev. James D. Knowles, C TheoL Inst 

Rev. Iraii Chase, < \reicton Ms 

Rev. Henry J. Ripley, ( Mwton,MS. 

Rev. Baron Stow, Boston. 

Rev. William Hague, Boston. 

Rev. Samuel Cox, D. D., New York. 

Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., New York. 
Rev. Spencer H. Cone. New York. 


Rev. Charles G. Sommers, New York. 
Rev. Robert M’Cartee, D. D. 

Rev. G. M. Matthews, D.D.,2VeiP York. 
Rev. Archibald Maclay, New York. 
Rev. C.C.CuyleRjD.D., Poughkeepsie.NY 
Rev. Ezra Fisk, D. D., Goshen, N. Y. 
Rev. B. Welch, D. D., Albany. 

Rev. A. Kendrick, D.D., Hamilton,N.Y. 
Rev. A. Alexander, D.D., Princeton. 
Rev. G. Livingston, D.D., Philadelphia . 
Rev. G. T. Bedell, D.D., Philadelphia. 
Rev. AV. T. Brantley, Charleston, S.C. 
Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D. D., Missouri. 
Rev. J. Breckenridge, D D., Princeton. 
Rev. Luther Halsey, Pittsburg. 

Rev. William Nevins, Baltimore. 

Rev. Rufus Babcock, D D., Poughkeepsie. 
Rev. John Pratt, Lit, Inst. Granville. * 
Rev. J.C.Young, Pres.Cen.Col.Danville- 
Rev. A. W. Leland,T>.D.,C harleston,S.C 








The History of Missions. 

From Rev. R. Anderson, D. D., Secretary Am. Board Com. Foreign Missions 

Missionary Rooms, Boston, Nov. 8, 1837. 

The History of Missions, in two volumes quarto, by the Rev. Messrs. Smith and 
Choules, is the most comprehensive and the best extant. It contains a rich store 
of authentic facts, highly important both to the minister and t he private Christian. 
To the former it will be an invaluable assistant in his preparations for the monthly 
concert and other missionary meetings; and in the family, it will furnish instruc¬ 
tive and useful employment to the members of different ages, in many an hour that 
otherwise might not be so profitably occupied. The price being reduced one half, 
while the original form of the work is retained, will no longer be regarded as un¬ 
reasonable. R. .Anderson, Sec’y A. B. C. F. M. 

From the Secretaries of the Am. Bap. Board of Foreign Missions. 

Boston, Nov. 1837. 

The History of Missions, as its name denotes, is a narrative of the means and 
methods by which the gospel has been propagated in pagan lands, beginning with 
the earliest efforts of the church, but presenting more at large the origin and pro¬ 
gress of the principal missionary institutions of the last and present centuries. 
Being derived from authentic sources, and fitted, by its happy selection of incidents, 
to cherish an intelligent interest in the subjects of which it treats, we hope it will 
secure an extensive circulation. It is worthy of a place in every Christian library. 

Lucius Bolles, Solomon Peck. 

From an extended review in the American Baptist Magazine. 

It is to the notice of all the community that we introduce, with unfeigned pleasure, 
this work. It has long been felt that multitudes remain in comparative ignorance 
of the origin and history of missions, because they are unequal to the expense and 
labor of purchasing and perusing the numerous missionary reports and magazines, 
from which the knowledge so desirable is to be obtained. The work contains a 
large number of anecdotes and illustrations of the success of the gospel, and ac¬ 
counts of what seemed most striking in the manners, customs, and religious and 
political systems of the nations to whom missionaries have been sent. In all cases, 
the history has been pursued down to the period of the latest information from the 
various stations, as received from the secretaries of the societies. The engravings, 
many of which are extremely fine, add much to the interest and value of the work. 
The whole ia in all respects worthy of the subject; and every friend of missions will 
rejoice to see a record so honorable to the missionary zeal of the present age. In 
this notice, we w T ould express our grateful thanks, in the name of the Christian 
church, and of the cause of missions, to the generous publishers. They seem re¬ 
solved to spare no expense to make the history worthy of its enrapturing subject 
and of universal encouragement. The work is not sectarian; but each society is 
left to give its own narrative, in its own way. It is amply recommended by cler¬ 
gymen of six different denominations,—Baptists, Congregational, Presbyterian, 
Episcopal, Dutch Reformed, and Methodist. If all our brethren would obtain and 
read it, we doubt not our missionary concerts would become scenes of more lively 
interest. We beg our friends not to deprive themselves of the pleasure of owning 
the History. 

From the Quarterly Observer, edited by B. B. Edivards. 

As an important work is now completed, we take this opportunity to commend 
it to the attention of all the friends of missions. It contains a great amount of in¬ 
formation. There are about 1300 pages, large quarto, furnishing full details of the 
missions of all the Protestant missionary societies throughout the world. It is the 
first work, within our knowledge, that comes up, in the extent of its information, 
to the claims of the great subject of missions. After a close examination, we con¬ 
sider the work to have been faithfully and accurately done. The best sources of 
the kind which London and Boston, the two great marts of missionary information, 
possess, have been put in requisition. The work is impartial. There is nothing 
of a narrow or sectarian rivalry in the work. It is full of interest and rational 
amusement. It is strictly a popular work. Every family in the country would 
find in it a large fund for social pleasure and intellectual gratification around the 
the fireside, of a wintry evening. The mechanical execution is every way worthy 
of the subject. The type is large and clear, the paper good, and the illustrations 
nearly all engraved on steel, combining many striking portraits. The work has 
been brought out at great expense, and it is well done We cannot but hope that 
the publishers will be amply remunerated. The importance of the work can hardly 
be magnified. To all, we earnestly and confidently recommend “The Origin and 
History of Missions.” 



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The History of Missions. 


From the Biblical Repository. 

We can only repeat the commendation which we have more than once bestowed 
on this important work. In this edition, a number of additional pases have been 
subjoined, giving a brief account of the present state of the missions of the princi¬ 
pal societies. More than 1200 quarto pages of valuable reading, done up in a very 
attractive form, with a large number of steel engravings and other illustrations, are 
furnished for seven dollars. Of the high excellence and commendable impartiality 
of the work, there can be no doubt. 

t 

From the Christian Review. 

Wc welcome with deep and unaffected joy the appearance of Mr. Choules’s “ Ori¬ 
gin and History of Missions.” We devoutly thank God for a work which so fully 
and happily supplies that very information which is needed by all who would intel¬ 
ligently love and wisely promote the great and arduous enterprise of the world’s 
conversion,—who would know what has been done, and what remains to be done, 
and what light the wide and diversified experience of the past throws upon the 
means to be employed for the future. We feel under deep obligation, together with 
the whole Christian community, to the gentlemen whose joint labors have given 
so valuable a desideratum at the present moment, so complete a “Missionary Re¬ 
pository,” up to the date of its publication. Other works of a similar character, it 
is true, existed before, but on a very different scale, and the most of them quite in 
the rear of the present advanced state of the cause. The work of Mr. Choules is of 
a far more radical and thorough character, and derived, for the most part from ori¬ 
ginal and authentic documents. It constitutes, in every respect, the most authen¬ 
tic as well as the most complete work that has ever appeared. It is published, too, 
in a style to which nothing that had previously appeared could make any preten¬ 
sions. The size of the page and of the type, the quality of the paper, and the 
number and elegance of the engravings, equal, if not surpass, the most splendid 
productions of the American press. Indeed, the entire appearance of these large 
and beautiful volumes, containing together more than 1200 quarto pages of close 
letter press, in double columns, and handsomely bound, is well fitted to give to the 
most thoughtless eye an impression which corresponds well with the dignity and 
glory of the enterprise to which its pages are devoted. 

From the Episcopal Christian Witness. 

The materials of the work, collected as they are from various sources, are inter¬ 
woven in a lively and agreeable style, preserving throughout great modesty and 
candor, and a truly catholic and evangelical spirit. The work, in short, is just 
what every friend of missions has long desired; and perhaps more than one may 
exclaim, with the lamented Dr. Bedell, “ I had intended, if God should spare mv 
life, to prepare a history of missions; but (alluding to this work) how good is God! 
it is done already!” It is eminently a rich treasury for missionary meetings, and 
will furnish a fund of information. 

From the Boston Recorder. 

The typographical execution of this work, in point of beauty and elegance, is not 
surpassed by any publication we have met with from the American press. The 
quarto form is indeed rare, in this country, and perhaps mother countries, in these 
days of biblio-compression, when small pages and small type are used to accommo¬ 
date the purse at the expense of the eyes. But here we have a noble specimen of 
typography, a generous page, an ample margin, a clear, large type, double columns, 
the first glance of which charms the eye, and invites close attention to the merits 
of the book. When we have taken up the volumes, we have laid them down again 
with reluctance, and only as constrained by necessity. They are rich; replete with 
instructive facts and striking incidents, that will not fail to leave those impressions 
on the reader’s mind, which a good man loves to cherish, and with which it must 
be the joy of his heart to live.and the delight of his soul to die. But it is not a mere 
repository of anecdotes; it is a continuous and well-digested history, in the main, 
of all the missionary operations of the several missionary societies of the world, 
from their commencement, about 1730, to the present time. ... 

The illustrative engravings are finely done, and add not a little to the intrinsic 
value, as well as to the ornament of the work. Forty-eight distinguished ministers, 
of six different denominations, “beg leave most cordially to recommend it to the 
relieinus public, considering it highly calculated to extend the interest which is 
already felt on behalfof the great missionary enterprise.” Among these ministers 
there are amonsf our own denomination, in Massachusetts) the Secretaries of the 
American Beard, and Rev. Drs. Wisner, Ccdman, Jenks, and S. Holmes. The 


The History of Missions. 


American Baptist Magazine affirms, anil we have no reason to doubt, correctly, 
that “ the work is not sectarian; but each society is left to give its own narrative 
in its own way.” Mr. B. B. Edwards, whose judgment will be questioned by 
none, and whose researches on the subject of missions have been more extensive 
and thorough than those of any other rqan, remarks,—“It is the first work within 
our knowledge, that comes us, in the extent of its information, to the claims of the 
great subject of missions. After a close examination, we consider it to have been 
fait hfully and accurately done. It is full of interest and rational amusement. It is 
strictly a popular work.” 

From the New York Mercantile Advertiser. 

It is not the province of a daily business newspaper to enter upon a formal review 
of a work like this. But still, after turning over the pages of these large and beau¬ 
tiful volumes, we cannot consent to pass them by without bearing testimony to 
their high value, not only as well-deserved memorials of the lives and labors of those 
little bands of holy men, who, since the middle of the last century, have been en¬ 
gaged in the great work of carrying the glad tidings of the gospel to the heathen, 
but also as repositories of a vast amount of historical matter, of the most authen¬ 
tic description, which has been collected during the prosecution of these labors. 


D3"“ In addition to the many other notices and reviews received by the publishers, 
the following clergymen have given their individual testimony in commendation of 
the work, even extracts of which we have not room here to present. 


1 Newburyport. 


Rev. D. Dana, D. D. 

Rev. L. F. Dimmick, 

Rev. J. Morse, D. D., 

. Leonard Bacon, Ncic Haven , 

. Joseph Bennett, Woburn. 

.John A Clark, 

, C. Train , Sec.Mass.Home Miss. Soc. 


Rev 
Rev 
Rev 
Rev. 

Rev. Daniel Crosby, $ Charlestown 
Rev. William Phillips, } C hartestown. 

Rev. John Blair, 

Rev. E. Otheman, 

Rev. A. W. McClure 


J 


Malden. 


Rev. David Brigham, Framingham. 
Rev. James Wilson, 

Rev. F. A. Willard, Louisville, Ky. 

Rer! A. D. Pollock, J Richm<ind . Va - 
Rev. Jotham Horton, 

Rev. Jonathan Homer, Newton. 

Rev. Elijah Foster, A?nesbury. 

Rev. B Phinney, 

Rev. Dudley Phelps, Haverhill. 

Rev. Elisha Fisk. 

Rev. Sylvester Holmes, New Bedford. 


HjT” A specimen of the plates, showing the style of the engravings, is appended. 


IAL COM’S TRAVELS. 

TRAVELS IN SOUTH-EASTERN ASIA; 

EMBRACING HINDUSTAN, MALAYA, SIAM, AND CHINA; 

WITH NOTICES OF NUMEROUS MISSIONARY STATIONS, 

AND A 

FULL ACCOUNT OF THE BURMAN EMPIRE ; 

WITH DISSERTATIONS, TABLES, ETC. 

* 

BY HOWARD MALCOM. 

IN TWO VOLUMES, 12mo; 

With a superb original Map of South-eastern Asia, five Steel- 
Plate Engravings, and about seventy Wood Cuts. 

The work has received the highest commendation from the press, and the best 
proof of the estimation in which it is regarded, is in the unexampled sale of the 
work. Near four thousand copies were sold within one year from its first 
appearance. In its mechanical execution it surpasses any similar work ever at¬ 
tempted in this country. 





















































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